Gears of War: Onyx Spider
by HandAssassinSpider-man
Summary: Life, as Peter discovered when he first enlisted in the Onyx Guard, never went his way even when it seemed like everything was fine. When he first signed up, it wasn't because he was feeling Patriotic, he just wanted the COG to pay for his schooling so he can one day become a well known and respected scientist. But the sudden emergence of the Locust Horde, put those dreams on hold.
1. Chapter 1

So this is sort of a companion piece to my Noble Spider story. There's no plans to have the two crossover, I just thought it'd be interesting to see Spider-man and his supporting characters placed in such a radically different scenario than we're usually used to. Case and point, this one will be set in the Gears of War universe, so expect lots of dark themes, gore, swearing like there's no tomorrow which in this world is pretty likely and just general depression and angst

This will pick up just before the events of E-Day or Emergence Day, when the Locust invaded the surface world and started an all-out war against the Humans of Sera for the next fifteen to seventeen years which a lot and I mean a lot of people died. This will be a sort of A.U. since I'm going to be making some alterations to the history of the Locust, the Lambet parasite thing, the COG and several others.

 **Warning: Expect quite a few lemons, some with incest and vast amounts of gore, extreme harsh language, some of which can be seen as racist but hey that's war and soldier mentality for ya, some very dark themes, morally questionable decisions and acts and lots of death**

It's Gears of War people, it's a dark series so there's your warning and because of this, this Peter Parker will be sort of fitted to this world and that he'll be a bit darker, a bit more cynical and what not, but he'll largely stay the same in that he uses humor as a sort of coping mechanism for all the crap he's about to go through but there will be times where that darkness and anger we all know he has and have seen sometimes will come out and well… Dark Spidey with a Lancer is a scary image regardless if he has powers or not

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or Gears of War characters seen, mentioned or used

* * *

Six years… sixty-six months… just over two thousand seven hundred and forty-two days… seventy-one thousand two hundred and ninety-two hours…

That was how long Peter Parker signed on for when he first joined the COG Army after graduating high school along with his estranged twin sister Terresa just over two years ago. The main reason was to help pay for the college that he wanted to attend but couldn't afford even with student loans or grants given the university was among the top five in the COG, like you'd need to come from some serious money to get in at least like Prescott or Fenix or something along those lines.

So, he did what any other kid in his position would do after looking to see if there was another school that could possibly substitute for him and was within his price range before finding there was none…

Find himself some serious courage that he lacked in high school when he was the resident bookworm and nerd, march his skinny ass over to the nearest recruiting center and enlist and pray to every god there is that he lived long enough to actually enjoy the benefits of being in the Army such as discounts at stores when you buy things, half of which you probably don't need, better healthcare options and oh yeah, having the COG pay for his education at almost any school in the Collation he wanted to attend and the school he wanted was one of those!

Now early on in Peter's time at boot camp his gifted intelligence was shown in some of the rather interesting and often unconventional tactics he would employ in training and even simulations to compensate for his less than at the time, stellar physical qualities. This sort of outside thinking gained the attention of quite a few influential people, most notably Colonel Erza Loomis of the Onyx Guard who was scouting Peter's training facility and several others for possible recruits into arguably the COG's most elite military unit.

After a few weeks of keeping tabs on Peter, the Colonel approached Peter after seeing the young man had scored higher than any of his fellow trainees and well any other Gear trainee in the past decade on his aptitude test and offered him a chance to be transferred to Halvo Bay Military Academy, the training ground of the Onyx Guard itself

Peter at the time, well he may be a little slow on certain things that weren't related to science and sometimes came off as dense, especially when it came to women, but he knew a once in a life time offer when he saw it and quickly accepted the By the Book man's offer and not a week later he was shipped out to Halvo Bay to further his training which he secretly would admit was hell on earth to a guy like him.

Over the next year, Peter was pushed to his absolute and he mean's absolute limits both physically and mentally and even a bit on the spiritual side until he finally graduated in the top of ten of his class at number ten itself. After that, it was simply being assigned his unit that was under the command of Captain Davis and getting to know his squad mates who were some of the coolest guys and girl he's ever met and wait to be deployed, as unlikely as that would be given that the Pendulum Wars had ended just a few days after he graduated not even six weeks ago.

So that meant Peter's tenure in the Onyx Guard would be uneventful. Sure, it had it's moments of excitement but he wouldn't be seeing any sort of actual combat outside drills and simulations which he was okay with, he was going through all of this because it was his way of eventually living his dream of being a well-respected scientist…

And then, Emergence Day… the day when Humanity discovered that it wasn't the only sentient race on Sera, and these new guys that have apparently been living underground for who knows how long, weren't willing to share. Within the first day of this new war breaking out, over a quarter of Sera's human population all over the world in almost every major city had been killed by what were soon to be called the Locust Horde

And now just six weeks after the beginning of a brand new and even bloodier conflict the Pendulum Wars, Peter along with thousands of other Onyx Guards and Gears had been deployed to defend Halvo Bay as the Locust had arrived with one thing in mind

Kill every last human in their path…

…

"Well… I'm sooo going to die" Peter said as he and his squad and dozens of other Onyx Guards were busy fortifying the Museum of Military Glory in the heart of Halvo Bay. Why, Peter didn't know since from his view point this city was lost and the smart thing would be to get as many Gears and Civilians out of here as possible before leveling the place with either a lot of bombs and artillery or the Hammer of Dawn and regroup with the rest of the COG's army

One of Peter's squad mates glanced at him with an incredulous expression under their helmet as he set up an automated turret that operated similar to a Gnasher shotgun in that it worked well at close quarters and fired off shotgun shells "Really? Where's that usual and often annoying optimism of yours Parker?"

"Back in the barracks, along with a will to my sister, and my Aunt and Uncle" Peter said as he lifted a large price of stone and tossed it aside and helped their squad leader set up several rows of barbed wire and laser trip wire to help slow the Locust down, not that it would but a few seconds would be all they need to send these things back to whatever hell they came from

"Cut the chatter and get these defenses up" their Sergeant said as he looked around to see several more squads securing the doors and laying out more fortifications

Peter finished tying down his side before a violent explosion from outside caught his attention and caused him to look up towards the windows in time to see a large majority of them shatter "Ah crap, that's not good…"

"We'll be fine" his C.O. said dismissively as he reported in to Colonel Loomis on the progress of the museum's fortifications

Peter frowned at the man's comment "But sir, those Nemacysts' could-"

"It's fine Parker now get the rest of those damn turrets up!" the man snapped before turning on his heel and walking away with a huff

Peter scowled at the man before he did as ordered and began to set the rest of the automated turrets up in key areas that will give them a clear and wide range of fire along with valued cover from any return fire from the Grubs

"Still don't get why we call them Grubs, they look more reptilian then insectoid in nature" Peter muttered as he placed his Lancer on the ground and moved a few old wooden benches to better cover the turret "Then again, calling them genocidal lizard men sounds too long and not catchy enough, oh well maybe in the next war…"

"If there is a next war…" a woman's voice spoke up behind Peter and he turned to see the only member of his squad that he actually got along with, mainly because she had a passion for science like he did but was sadly unable to really follow her's thanks in some small part to her father who she has yet to really mention other than he was some military bigshot and made a deal with her, six years in the Army and he'd bend over backwards to get her into any school she wanted.

So, she attended and later graduated Halvo Bay Military Academy before she and a select few Onyx Guards were deployed to aid in the battle of Aspho Fields that saw the COG acquire the Hammer of Dawn technology from the UIR who had beaten them to it by quite a few years.

Corporal Barbara 'Bobbi' Morse, his squad's second in command and most experienced Gear despite the fact she was only four years older than Peter. She had her helmet in her hand while her Mk-1 Lancer was attached to her armor's magnetic holster, located on the back. Her blonde hair was tied in a tight bun and her face was marred a bit by grime for spending the better part of this morning and last night trying to hold the docks before she and Peter's squad were pulled back to here

She nodded towards some of the defenses in the room as she slid her helmet on "Think it'll hold?"

"Against humans?" Peter asked as he stepped up and brushed some bits of dust that fell on his armor when another explosion shook the building "Yes, against Grubs… I give us two minutes tops"

"That's half a minute longer than what I give us" Bobbi said as she and several others including Peter lost their footing thanks to a powerful tremor originating from somewhere nearby, likely another 'E-Hole' either being destroyed or created by their inhuman and relentless new enemy that according to her and some of the older Gears makes the 'Indies' look like a bunch of pushovers in comparison

"I still think this city is done for…" Peter said as he straightened himself before arming himself with his Lancer and attached the bayonet to it, not that the blade will do much given the Grubs rather thick hide, against a Wretch sure no problem, but the bigger Locust ground forces were another story entirely

' _Let's just hope my blade doesn't snap like yesterday'_ Peter thought with dread as yesterday's fight came to mind when Peter tried to impale a Drone in the gut with his Lancer only to stare in terror as his bayonet snapped and he was early killed by the darkly amused Grub, thankfully, Peter had a backup plan, he opened fire on the bastard with his rifle on full auto and watched as he more or less bisected the surprised Grub

' _Though I doubt that'll work again'_ Peter thought as he and Bobbi took their positions not too far from each other

"Halvo Bay is home to the Onyx Guard Peter, a lot of men and women here won't let this place go without a fight, neither will Command if they can help it" Bobbi said as she made a few adjustments to her Lancer

"There's always Ephyra" Peter said in regards to the Onyx Guard's place of origin or at least, it's predecessor which so happens to also be Bobbi and Peter's home

"Fair point, but honestly how many people even know that these days?" Bobbi asked with a chuckle as she glanced up towards the shattered windows to see the night sky was illuminated by a combination of fire from the war outside and artillery fire from both sides of the conflict before suddenly they received an update from Command about the situation outside

" _Squads Black-Four and Three, incoming hostiles on your position, dozens of them"_ a male's voice said that was nearly drowned out by another explosion _"We're also picking up reports of the East Wing under attack"_

"Copy that, we're in position and ready to show these bastards how Onyx kick's ass!" Peter and Bobbi's Sergeant responded as he gestured for the squads to take cover and aim for the door into the city outside

Peter steadied his breathing as he lined up the Museum's door in his rifle's sights and held firm _'Okay Peter you can do this, you've done it at least four times in the past few days and dozens of times before that in very safe and non-life-threatening simulations. Just aim at the first Grub and squeeze the trigger until it's dead and move on to the next… easy…'_

Peter then felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see it was Bobbi's as her helmet's blue lenses stared into his "Stick close to me alright? I don't want to almost lose you like earlier, okay?"

"Yes ma'am" Peter nodded as he adjusted the grip on his rifle

The Onyx Guards waited in tense silence as the sounds of gunfire and explosions outside increased until the door suddenly shook and cracked as something big on the other side had hit it. They waited for several moments as they picked up the growls and grunts of the Locust outside before suddenly the doorway exploded and was soon filled by numerous Grubs entering the hall

"All right ladies, light em' up!" the Sergeant yelled as he and the rest of the Guards opened fire on the advancing horde

…

* * *

And done.

Next chapter, the battle for the Museum of Military Glory begins!


	2. Chapter 2

Answers to reviewers' questions or statements:

 **justafan** : Wheatear she lives or die during the course of this war I'm still trying to decide, but having her in the harem thing, still deciding. I might save Ben Carmine, if only because I grew attached to the fumbling innocent like child he was, Anthony though, nah he gotta go.

 **cosmicspiderking** : More like he'll be possessive of them. In this universe, women are few and far in between and well since quite a few of them are quite the looker, yeah… he'll have his hands full keeping some of his fellow Gears and even Stranded away from them. And that's before we get into the breeding farms

 **Adtr509** : Yeah, Peter's in for a ride of loss, emotional trauma and pain. I think their starting to push for them to be a couple given they kissed in a recent issue of The Amazing spider-man, but that might have been a one-off thing but they might change that.

 **KasugaRomio** : I already have the first six chapters of both War world and this story written when I made the announcement for them. They were just sitting, mocking me, waiting to be brought to the internet where they can be criticized and degraded, so I went with the first and likely easiest one. I'll wait until I reach the events of Gears of War before possibly uploading the other story, or just say screw it and upload it within the next few weeks. Peter's around Baird's size or just above your average Gear. He'll be like Baird in that he will sort of tinker to keep himself distracted but well, that won't work out well forever.

 **Guest** : No, he'll be just a really smart guy in this story.

 **Esquire-man** : No Silver will be in this story, she'll be appearing a bit after the battle for Halvo Bay. Teressa won't be a gear anytime soon if ever but she'll have a role to play. She won't be just sitting on the side lines waiting for everything to blow over.

 **Krolikson** : Nah I'm keeping Bobbi for this and if I do for some reason kill her off, I want the death to be impactful, a real feels moment that'll leave people a little teary eyed and pissed that the character they got so attached to dies. A Boom shield might be a little too cumbersome for him to carry around, but if he sees it he won't say no to using it.

 **90'skid4life** : Yeah, sometimes I have, the tricky part is finding out which one I could do that hasn't been done or done enough yet.

 **henchman213** : Yeah Peter will be an additional member of Delta Squad but he won't always be with them, but events in the games he will and a few other missions or events. Because Baird's a sarcastic shit talking smart ass who can care less what other people think or say about him, kind of hard not to love him.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or Gears of War characters seen, mentioned or used

* * *

' _Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap! Stay back, stay back, stay back!'_ Peter thought as he fired in short controlled bursts at the advancing Locust as did his fellow Gears as their enemy poured into the hall and clashed against their automated and stationary defenses

The barbed wire and Laser trip wire kept the Wretches at bay and allowed for Peter and a few others to pick them off with ease while the turrets forced the Drones that weren't killed by the Onyx Guards gunfire to take cover behind either large chunks' of the wall or ceiling that have collapsed since this battle began or behind some of the museum's exhibits

Peter's Lancer rattled and shook his shoulder from the high caliber rounds being fired off from it for several more seconds before it's customized forty round clip emptied, forcing him to drop back into cover and quickly reload the weapon. Peter nearly dropped the fresh mag as a Locust shot off a bit of the cover he was ducking behind before he slapped the fresh clip in and returned the favor with a short controlled burst right into the drone's upper body, causing it to roar as it ducked behind cover while several of its brethren broke cover and rushed the Gears in a mad berserker like frenzy that shook a few of the more seasoned men, not because the Drones were basically charging their position on an obvious suicide run, but the inhuman roar and animalistic rage etched on their faces even as they had their bodies pelted with hot lead was a sight that was more suited for a nightmare than a fire fight

Of the six Drones that made the charge, only four made it through the hail of gunfire from both the Gears and turrets and rigged defenses before they engaged the humans in close quarter combat

Onyx Guards were trained since day one in hand to hand combat, taught how to best engage an enemy combatant, disarm and kill him if it comes down to it with greater efficiency then your standard Gear, but all of those months and even years of training meant jack against something that was a good half a foot or more taller with an added hundred and sixty pounds of dense muscle, rock hard like skin and a raw animalistic savagery that unsettled even the most hardened of Gears, the fact their bones were denser than a human's didn't help either.

Four Guards died before the Drones followed in puddles of their own blood and that of the men they killed while the rest of their buddies decided to sit back and trade bullets with the far more deadlier humans then they've been encountering as of late, be it civilian or Gear.

Peter took cover to reload his Lancer again before he cautiously poked his head to and scanned the area for something that could help tip this skirmish in favor of him and his fellow Onyx before he saw something that caused his mind to race a mile a minute. A bolo grenade held in the grip of one of Peter's dead compatriots. His eyes further narrowed as he saw a lone Drone also notice this and made to rush it and use the valuable ordinance against the remaining humans before they wiped it and the remaining seven Grubs out

' _Yeah no, sorry buddy but I kind of want to live to see tomorrow… or at least still be alive in an hour'_ Peter thought as he took aim at the Drone, squeezed off a few rounds and forced it back into cover before he suddenly sprinted towards the dead Onyx, making sure to keep his head down to avoid getting a bullet to the skull

"PARKER!" Bobbi shouted as she saw her squad mate rush from cover nearly towards the center of the room where the firing was the heaviest "GET INTO FUCKIN COVER NOW!"

"Uh one sec ma'am!" Peter said as he slid to the ground on his knees, just feeling several rounds from the 'Hammerbust' speed over his helmet as he scooped up the grenade and primed it to use before he was tackled to the ground by the very same Grub that he just shot at it and it did not look pleased

' _Then again, I wouldn't be too happy if someone shot at me, hell I'm sure that's a universal feeling or something, because what sociopath regardless of species actually enjoys getting shot at?'_ Peter thought as he wrestled for the grenade against his larger, stronger and more durable foe

Every punch he sent towards the drone hurt as it felt like Peter was slamming his fist into solid rock. He tired going for joints and where he hoped there were nerves clusters like on a regular human only to panic as it didn't seem to be doing the trick as the Grub nearly ripped the grenade from Peter's hand. It was then that Peter was able to push the Grub back far enough to get one of his feet under the large subterranean creature and kick it back and allow Peter to toss the now active grenade past it and right into where his buddies were using for cover

Peter didn't bother to see if the thing worked as he drew his sidearm and unleashed several shots into the Grub's head, taking off a piece of it's skull in a bloody shower of bone and gore before it's body was sent flying from the exploding grenade

 **KWA-BWOOM!**

Peter felt his teeth rattle from the blast before he let out a sound of disgust as a few bloodied pieces of the Locust landed on his armor, one right on his helmet's lens

"Oh that's just nasty… ugh now I'm going to get Grub cooties!" Peter whined as he first of many fights for this room came to a sudden end with the death of the enemy's troops

"Medic!" one Onyx Guard shouted as he held a hand over his squad mate's bleeding side and a few others were either reloading or doing a headcount of how many men had died, thankfully it wasn't many but by Onyx standards, it might as well have been a slaughter

Bobbi had along with several other Onyx Guards made their way towards the Locust corpses and placed a single round and each of their heads to make sure they stayed dead and another just to be sure, some Locust could take a unheard amount of punishment before finally dying and some were more than smart enough to play dead and wait for a poor Gear to drop his or her guard and look the other way, she and her men found that out the hard way not too long ago and her side was stick aching from the surprised kick the thought to be dead Drone gave her before it grabbed an Onyx Guardsman's knife and killed him with it.

After several more minutes, she confirmed that all Locust were KIA and their dead and wounded were sought to. She then turned her attention towards Private First-Class Peter Parker with a scowl of annoyance

Normally their Sergeant would be the one to chew Parker out, but given he was being looked after by a medic to make sure his lungs didn't fill up with blood, scolding the newest addition to their squad for breaking cover fell to her

' _Still, he did good so I'll be somewhat lenient to him…'_ Bobbi thought before she spoke in a cool but harsh tone that would make her farther proud or squeamish if it was ever directed at him "Parker, what the flying fuck were you doing?!"

Yeah, lenient… Onyx style

"Uh winning the fight ma'am?" Peter said with a confused voice before he nodded towards a shredded Locust Drone "Safe to say I think I did that, I mean these are the guys we're supposed to be fighting, right? Or were they really our poor sighted friends that thought they had blanks in their guns instead of live ammunition?"

Bobbi's eyes narrowed at the man before she let out an annoyed sigh and she mentally counted to ten before addressing her squads most impulsive and often most rebellious member and he's barley been with them for two months!

"Next time Private, alert your superiors to what you have planned before doing it or else next time you can get yourself and others killed and potentially cost us the whole battle if not war"

"…Right" Peter said with a wince as he brushed a bit ore of Locust gore off his armor before standing up and picking his rifle up too "Next time, let the boss man or lady know that I'm about to do something stupidly brave that'll save everyone, got it!"

Bobbi rolled her eyes at the man before she dismissed him and approached their CO along with a few others, the man was looking remarkably better given he just took a bullet to the chest. Either the bullet didn't go too far deep of the adrenaline was working

"Sir, an update on the situation outside?" Bobbi asked as the distant booms of artillery and Ravens flying overhead echoed through the main hall

Her Sergeant let out a hiss as he adjusted his position against the wall before he glanced at her with a frown even though it was covered by his helmet "Aside from the fact that we're losing this city a block a minute, no not really. Just make what repairs to the defenses best you can and dig in. Command just spotted another wave, this one three times the size, heading our way"

Bobbi nodded as she and the rest dispersed to warn the men and make the necessary repairs as quick as possible, they only had minutes at best. The men who had to retrieve the dead did so silently without much fuss. The Sergeant Major in charge made sure that their COG tags were retrieved along with their ammo and any other valuable equipment.

Even though this war has been going on for only about six weeks, give or take a day, The COG and likely the rest of humanity quickly discovered that the Grubs had no problems looting their dead. Hell it seemed like they had their own orders of stealing COG tech when they weren't kicking it's army's ass like there was no tomorrow

' _Probably because there won't be for a lot of us…'_ Bobbi thought as she saw the dead Guards covered with a whit sheet by one of the squad's medics before she pulled her gaze from their bodies and helped a few other men and women repair and re-secure the room's defenses

Peter, who was only a few meters away from her was busy setting up a few grenades and setting them to the proximity setting. A nice little surprise for the Grubs when they got here Peter thought with a grin chuckle.

Another explosion shook the room, causing Peter to silently let out a curse as he glanced up at the damaged windows and frowned as he could just make out the faint shapes of flying Nemacysts in the air before he just made out a few suddenly rocketing off somewhere, likely towards either a King Raven or a squad of Gears unlucky enough to catch their attention

' _Really hope those things don't deiced to hit this place, those windows can't take that kind of punishment'_ Peter thought as he finished setting the grenades as his CO spoke

"Get into positions. Enemy combatants in thirty seconds!"

"Crap…" Peter muttered as he grabbed his rifle and quickly rushed back towards the other end of the room as he could just faintly make out loud inhuman roars coming from outside followed by more ground shaking

Peter really hoped the Locust don't open up a hole in this place, the last thing he needed on top of being shot at was having to worry about falling into a Drone infested tunnel

' _Not the way I want to go, hell that ain't a way anyone should go. COG or Indie regardless'_ Peter thought as he took his position by Bobbi's side and waited as the sounds of the Locust got closer and closer

Peter steadied his breathing as he took aim as he felt the ground shake rhythmically, not like a earthquake or a possible E-Hole opening up, but more like-

' _Footsteps!'_ Peter thought with dread as he secured his grip on his Lancer _'And there's only two things that can make tremors like this that aren't from those giant monstrosities with the canons on their backs and the creepy looking multi leg burrowers…'_

" **BOOM!"** a heavy gravel like voice yelled out before suddenly a large explosion tore apart some of the debris over the first insertion point the Locust came through

The Onyx Guards didn't hesitate to open fire as two large Drone looking creatures lumbered through. They looked to be a sort of mix of muscle and fat and carried large rocket firing guns that have already earned the dreadful nickname, Boomshots and their common wielders, Boomers on account they seem to like shouting 'Boom' before firing their weapon.

' _At least it's not the ones with super tough hide and charges like a bull and rages out like my ex-girlfriend if you made a comment about the Police's less then noble aspects'_ Peter thought as he and several Onyx Guardsmen took cover as one of the Boomers shot off a rocket while the other was busy reloading, clearly the one that destroyed the make shift barrier while over a dozen Drones accompanied by several Wretches poured in behind him

"Yeah, this is not how I thought my tour of duty would go when I accepted Loomis's offer… not by a longshot" Peter said as he concentrated his fire on the Boomer that was reloading's head

"Funny, I was just thinking this was not how I wanted to spend my last few years of active service before transferring to reserve" Bobbi said as she fired off a burst of Lancer rounds into a Drone that had collapsed on to the laser trip wire after it's left leg had been nearly blown off by one of grenades that Peter had set up earlier

"Aww you were planning on leaving already?" Peter joked before he let out a triumphed shout as one of the Boomers fell dead with half it's face now missing and the other was forced to try and take cover only to enter the area of one of the grenades he set and watched it go off in a cloud of lethal shrapnel glory, completely shredding it's side and causing it to let out a pained roar before it was finally finished off by a unknown Onyx Guardsman while the drones and wretches were quickly picked off now that their heavy support was dead and they were now being flanked by several Guards who had made it up to the balcony overlooking the main hall

Bobbi let out a snort as she scored a head shot on one of the remaining Drones "Don't tell me you were sticking around because of little old me"

"Maybe I was, and FYI, you're not that old ma'am" Peter replied as he watched a Wretch try to flank a squad of Onyx Guards only for the room's last remaining turret to pick it off with a quick burst of gunfire

"Private Parker, you know the rules in regards to Officers fraternizing with their men and or women" Bobbi said as the fighting came to an abrupt halt as the last Drone was killed

"When then it's a good thing you and I aren't officers hmm?" Peter teased "Well in Onyx at least since we're considered officers to the rest of the Army"

To be honest he wasn't really looking for an actual relationship at the moment, partly because he's unsure he can't handle that on top of being Onyx at the same time, war or no war against seemingly genocidal mole men and their army of 'Nope' fuel creatures that he knows will be haunting and peeking his scientific mind for years to come.

Plus, he was still a little depressed from his recent breakup with a girl he dated in high school that broke it off with him after she found out he enlisted in the Army. Peter has always known that Gwen was never a big fan of the COG and would often go to rallies that protested the war, he just didn't think she was willing to end a three-year relationship just like that. His reasons for wanting to join be dammed since in her eyes he was just going to be another 'baby-killer'

' _Heh, on top of my aunt and uncle not being very supportive of my choice but my now ex-girlfriend too? Yeah, real encouragement their folks. I swear Terresa is the only one that actually supported my decision and she and I barely speak!'_

Bobbi, unaware of Peter's thoughts, hummed at his earlier response before she and a few others, including him broke from cover "Well I hate to crush your dreams Parker, but I'm not looking for anything at the moment"

"Already taken?" Peter snorted as he brushed some dust off his shoulder

"…Something like that" Bobbi said in a low voice before she moved to help secure the room, leaving Peter to himself before one of his squad mates bumped his shoulder as he passed by Peter to join in making sure the Grubs were dead and re-securing the defenses for the next inevitable wave

"Kid, I know your still new and all and are smarter than probably half the guys in all of Onyx at the moment, but take my advice and drop it"

Peter quirked a hidden brow at the guy "Do I want to know?"

The man glanced back at Peter before he shrugged "Guy as smart as you will have it figured out soon enough anyway, but since I'm feeling a little nice… there was a reason she wasn't here when you were first assigned to our squad and it's part of the reason she came back early from leave"

Peter watched him go with a confused look on his face before he let out a sigh "It was only supposed to be six years… go in, serve the mandatory sentence, get out with full benefits and attend Embry University, hopefully get my doctrine and go on to become a well-respected scientist like Fenix or something and maybe hook up with an equally smart but breathtakingly beautiful woman. But noooooo… a bunch of genocidal mole men and their army of super monsters had to invade and very likely will get me killed… fuckin Parker luck at it's absolute finest poeple!"

…

* * *

And done.

Next chapter, The Locust press their attack and Peter and Bobbi meet some interesting additions to the defense of the Museum of Military Glory


	3. Chapter 3

Answers to reviewers' questions or statements:

 **Cyclopz** : No, for the most part he'll treat higher ranking officers with the proper respect, even if they person is an ass. Peter's still new, like this is his first combat deployment. Sure, he's been trained for the better part of like a year and a half but there is a big difference between mock battles and actual fire fights where one misstep can literally cost you your head.

 **KasugaRomio** : Wouldn't mind a bit more reviewers for each chapter but that's up to the readers if they want to leave one or not. I'll be showing that not always wearing a helmet can be bad and sometimes the same can be said if you do wear one. Either way, chances are you're gonna get hurt in a fire fight or skirmish regardless in some form or fashion.

 **Marveldcfan** : No, Peter's mom and dad are both dead. As for Teressa being in Peter's harem, not certain yet.

 **Gamerslegacy** : By Anya, do you mean how she's the sort of the CIC Officer that relays information to him and all that? If so then no, she'll be more towards the civilian support like a nurse or something along those lines.

 **chimera629** : He's not gaining any superhuman abilities, this story will be him using his intelligence more often than not and sheer dumb luck to get by. The Onyx Guard doesn't have a science division and even if they did, they aren't gonna take some kid fresh out of high school and offer him a job unless he came from an extremely prestigious school and was top of the class. He joined the army in the first place so they can pay for him to go to said school and eventually get that job offer.

 **henchmen213** : No Peter won't be related to someone important in the COG like Prescott or something, he's just a guy from some low middle-class family.

 **cosmicspiderking** : A bit of both but it was mainly them not having much in common with each other. Peter will just be a really skilled human in this, trying to play on him having to use his brains more often to beat the Locust then him just using spider based super powers. Keep things interesting I suppose. It's not too different from what he does in the comics, faces a superior enemy and has to rely on his smarts and luck to beat them

 **CRUDEN** : True, but Marvel has a knack for teasing romances only to burn them hard when it comes to Spider-man. I mean for a while, I thought that Peter and Silver would end up together during the events of 'To the Ends of the Earth' and well… saw how that went.

 **Guest** : Never thought of either of those two shows before. I might give Buffy a look to see if I can pull of a Spider-man Buffy crossover. Game of Thrones might be a little harder

 **Krolikson** : I have a few things in mind that might work and display Peter's intelligence, nothing too extreme like he makes a flying APC that shoots lasers but something to show his ingenuity like he takes a Silver Back and adds Boomshots and flamethrowers to it, stuff like that.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or Gears of War characters seen, mentioned or used

* * *

"Contact!" a man yelled as yet another wave of Locust Drones and several Boomers broke through the failing wall of debris and Locust corpses that were piled in front of the door to try and slow them down long enough for the Onyx Guards and the few remaining automated turrets to pick them off

Peter had to hold back a very ungentlemanly curse that would warrant a smack from his Aunt as he narrowly avoided having his head shot off by a Drone that had apparently gained a long dead Gear's Longshot. Peter searched through the chaos for the sniper and saw that it was still by the main entrance, using it's fallen breather and chunks of stone as cover while it took aim at another Guardsman and fired

Peter watched with wide eyes as the man standing next to him had his head seemingly explode in a shower of gore and bits of metal as the high caliber bullet tore through his helmet into his head and out the other end all in the fraction of a second. Peter wiped some of the blood off his helmet's lenses and took aim at the Drone as it began to reload and fired off a several round burst that caused it to stagger back in surprise and pain before Peter finished the wounded Locust off with a single round to it's head before having to reload

' _Great, one down…'_ Peter thought as he reloaded as fast as he could before he looked to see over a dozen Locust left in the hall _'Just another twelve-… scratch that, seven to deal with'_

Peter watched as Bobbi had taken a dead Boomer's Boomshot, he was tempted to chuckle at seeing her struggle with the big ass gun for a second, and aimed it towards a group of five Grubs and fired off a single rocket that raced through the air before impacting on the center Grub that had a sort of cycloptic helmet. The explosion killed the surprised Grubs almost instantly in a massive shower of shrapnel, dust and gore and sent their destroyed bodies all over the place and forced the few remaining Drones to duck and cover in fear of getting a rocket to the face as well

Luckily for them, unlucky for Peter and his companions, that Boomshot only had one last round in it and Bobbi had just used it, despite strict orders from Command to never use the enemy's weapons

' _Which doesn't really make sense to be honest'_ Peter thought as he caught a Drone in his Lancer's sights and fired _'I mean, do these Locust have like these little trackers in their guns or something? Maybe it's some weird 'we shall not use the guns that killed so many humans' which is weird because I'm sre the Lancer has just as many deaths on it's file or is it the COG trying to make it seem like that using these guys weapons makes us no better than the Locust?'_

Peter didn't really know or really care to know, besides half the weapons used by these Locust were biological in nature and would be next to impossible to work out how to use, or at least the ones he kinda secretly wants to try out himself

' _But something tells me that a Brumak won't be willing to let me ride it anytime soon… wow never knew I wanted to ride a Brumak until I saw one level a Centaur Tank the other day. God, I think there's something wrong with me if I want to ride a giant rocket mounted monster that's killing people and smashing tanks like those old black and white monster movies me and Teressa used to watch'_ Peter thought as he fired off his clip's last round at what looked to be the last able fighting Drone in the hall and watched as it collapsed with a wet thud on to the blood-soaked ground

No one could tell whose blood covered the ground more, human or Locust given that the entire Hall's detachment of Onyx Guardsman had been reduced to just about ten people over the course of half an hour. Peter, Bobbi, and two four-man squads, Black Four and Black Seven were all that remained of what was once a thirty-man platoon.

"Recover!" one of the squad's sergeants yelled as they and Peter broke cover to recover their dead and scavenge for ammo

Peter let out a tired sigh as he kneeled down next to a dead Onyx Gear and recovered her COG tag while resisting the urge to vomit as the woman's entire torso had been more or less ripped open by Hammerburst fire. One thing that Peter had quickly concluded and verified about the Locust is that their bullets were slightly different than the ones that Gears use for their Lancers

Hammerburst rounds seemed to have these sorts of very small serrated edges to them so that way if the bullet does pierce the armor, which it's certainly capable of doing just like Lancer rounds, it really tore up a person's insides. So even if the round didn't hit something vital, chances are you're going to possibly bleed out if it happens to nick an artery while passing through your body.

As Peter had removed the dead woman's COG tags, he accidently jostled the body and caused bits of her rib cage or what was left of it to fall out, causing Peter to gag. It was even worse when he caught sight of what was once her stomach, shit he could still make out bits of what were a ration bar churning around in a sort of puddle of stomach acid, blood, waste and god knows what else pooling in what was once her small intestine

"Oh god…" he groaned as he fought the urge to puke, he thanked whoever the parents of the one that designed Onyx helmets to filter out smells because he knew for a fact that a combination of what he was seeing along with the smell would be what would do him in

"You okay Parker?" Bobbi's voice echoed through their squad's personal channel, perks of being in Onyx he supposed

Peter gave her a shaky nod even though she probably couldn't see it as he got up and turned away from the mess of a corpse and stalked away from it, being mindful to watch his step. He really didn't want to fall face first into some corpse's insides because he slipped on a stream of blood "Y-Yeah, just… never expected my tenure with Onyx to be like this is all…"

Bobbi was silent for a moment as she, Peter and the other eight remaining Onyx Guards went about re-securing the corpse littered hall, all the while the sounds of gunfire and artillery outside echoed through the night sky

"Parker, I wish I could say it gets easier but… well all I can say is try to think of something else when you do this. Or just pretend it's some frog or rat you had to dissect in biology class" the veteran gear advised as she recovered her and Peter's squad mate's tag from what was left of his bloodied, beaten torso. The armor had seemed to melt into the man's chest after taking a near point blank blast from a Boomshot earlier, Bobbi couldn't even begin to wonder where the hell the rest of him was

"Funny, because I think that would be worse considering in high school one of my bullies once smashed my face into a frog we had to dissect. I think I accidently swallowed some of it's insides, can't remember though. Was too busy throwing up afterwards and having half the class laugh at me" Peter said as he stood up and quickly walked away from another dead Onyx Guard whose body was thankfully in far better condition then what he's been seeing and regrouped with Bobbi as Black Four and Three seemed to be discussing something

Bobbi gave him a frown that was covered by her helmet "Where the hell did you attend school?"

"Midtown High, Ephyra" Peter said dryly as the sergeant from Black Three approached Peter and Bobbi and spoke to the higher-ranking person, aka Bobbi

"Hold this room along with Black Four. We're going to re-enforce the East wing, the Grubs are hitting it in force" the man said before he gestured for the rest of his team to follow him through a doorway that would lead to the other end of the museum

Peter watched them go before he turned towards Black Four who stared at him and Bobbi silently in that creep sentinel way Onyx guardsmen and women were infamous for

"So… how's your day been?" Peter said as he cradled his Lancer close to his chest, he could feel his pulse beating a mile a minute as he felt the ground shake a little, almost like an earthquake

"We're getting killed by a bunch fuckin monsters from the ground… the hell you think smartass" one of the men said as he brushed past Peter with shove and was soon followed by the others

Peter watched him go for a second before turning towards Bobbi "Rude, am I right?"

"Very, the bastard" Bobbi said dryly as she checked her Lancer's ammo and frowned to see that she had one full clip already in and only two more in reserve, she'd need to resupply soon because she was out of ammo for her snub Pistol after entering several entire clips into some freakish tall Grub that screamed louder than her dad when he was pissed

' _Hopefully he's still alive…'_ Bobbi thought with some worry as she glanced out a nearby window and could faintly hear something big roar into the fire lit night sky just moments before a beam that she recognized as a Hammer of Dawn beam struck part of what looked like Old town

Given her father wasn't a frontline Gear anymore, or at least spends as much time on the front lines like he used to, she hoped he was still alive. Bobbi doubted she and her mother could survive without him. Bobbi especially after what happened on 'E-Day'…

It was then she saw that Peter was waving a hand in front of her face, causing her to scowl at him before she brushed his hand away "What?"

"You spaced out for a second there, you okay?" Peter asked with some concern as he adjusted the grip on his rifle

Bobbi wasn't thinking of responding before she let out a sigh "Just… just hoping my dad is okay is all. Aside from my mom… he's all I have left now"

"Oh, he uh a Gear too?" Peter asked, something told him that there was more meaning to that statement, but so far, he couldn't think of anything. Though given his track record with women in the past, it'll be practically screaming in his face when it does come to him

"Yeah, recently promoted colonel a few weeks back" Bobbi revealed as she removed her helmet and rubbed the sweat off her slightly bruised brow as it was starting to get in her eyes and the feeling of claustrophobia began to kick in. They really needed to make some adjustments to these helmets if the COG expected Onyx to be wearing them more often than a regular Gear's

"Huh, that's nice. The only family I have is my sister that I haven't spoken to in a month and my Aunt and Uncle who were a little unhappy about me being a Gear, let alone Onyx Guard, which is like Gears mixed with steroids, mixed with classified stuff and a bit of mystery to top it all off" Peter said

"Your parents don't like the army?" Bobbi asked with a frown, while anti-sentiment for the COG army wasn't new, especially in recent years, she's never heard of an Onyx Guard that came from a household that held those views. Most came from die hard loyal homes or upper society members that held similar views of the COG's ideals

"More like they didn't like the idea of me getting killed in a war over a bunch of Imulsion" Peter said with a shrug "But they seemed to be settling down and accepting once the war ended before my training was ever completed. Though I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that their outright terrified if I'm dead or alive yet. All the news is filled with now is just city after city falling and entire regiments of Gears being butchered"

"You talk to them since the Grubs appeared?" Bobbi asked as she slid her Lancer on her back and passed her helmet back and forth between her hands, looking for something to distract herself as she and the others waited for more Locust to crop up or they receive new orders

Peter nodded a little as he scanned the room, secretly frowning at the destruction of some of the exhibits here and there, this place from what he could see used to be really nice and was credited to be the greatest museum in the COG "Yeah, the day after to make sure they were still alive. They said my sister was going to be staying with them before I had to end the call and had to be shipped out to Onyx Point before being deployed here, same as you"

Bobbi nodded at this before she gave him a pat on the back as she slid her helmet back on as another tremor shook the ground, this one stronger than the last "Hey, if or when we get back to base, I'll see if I can help you get a message through to check in on them, okay?"

"What about you?" Peter asked with a frown "Don't you want to see if your dad is still alive?"

"I'll radio control for confirmation. He's high up enough in the chain of command that they can at least verify if he's alive or not. Perks of being his daughter I guess" Bobbi said before the sergeant of Black Four spoke up with some panic as he and his men began to back away from the hall's windows and doors that led out into the burning city of Halvo Bay

"More Locust inbound!"

"Man, they really want this museum" Peter said as he and Bobbi rushed to their defensive positions along with Black Four "I mean, are they that determined to see the new Pendulum War exhibit or is it the small over turned ice cream cart I saw in the food court earlier?"

"If it's the ice cream, then hate to say it but I already pilfered it" Bobbi said as she and Peter and the rest of the Onyx Guards took aim at the doorway as the entire building shook from the assault underway on the East side

"What flavor was it?" Peter asked as he steadied his breathing to help him better aim and focus

"Vanilla… with rainbow sprinkles" Bobbi said as the first Drone cropped through the entrance and she fired off a small two round burst, scoring a headshot with one of the bullets hitting it in the eye and causing it to fall forward with a heavy wet thud, blood leaking from it's partially destroyed head like a leaking pipe

"Hmm, rainbow sprinkles do sound like a good reason to keep throwing troops at a museum" Peter said as he and the other Onyx Guardsmen fired on the Drones pouring through the doorway with short controlled bursts, everyone was running low on ammo at this point

"Command better get some more guys here or we're good as fucked" one of the men from Black Four shouted as he fired off a long burst of Lancer rounds into a Drone tat tried to blitz what was left of the room's defenses aside from the now offline turret that Peter was hoping to fix, it still had half a belt left in it

Peter fired off several mote bursts before he was met with the dreaded click of his Lancer going empty, forcing him to duck and quickly slap in one of his last full magazines before looking back over the cover with the intent to shoot another several Grubs only to come face to face with one big ass Drone that was glaring down at him with it's glowing yellow tinted goggles

"Oh sh-!" Peter yelled as the drone tackled him to the ground with a loud roar that caused Peter to thank the COG's competent manufactures that his helmet muffled some of the sound or else his ears would be really ringing

It was then that Peter felt the Drone trying to wrap it's hands around his throat which caused him to push his chin down towards his chest while he tried to wrestle the damn Grub off but found himself pinned and unable to reach for his knife which he knows won't work short of sticking it in the eyes or ear canal. Peter's desperation and fear began to grow as he felt the Drone shake, actually laughing, as it's hands finally shoved Peter's arms out of the way with a punch to his head that left a small dent on the left side of his helmet and caused Peter to briefly see stars and secured a solid grip on his throat, cutting off his air supply

Peter let out a chocked gasp as he tried to breath while he redoubled his efforts to break free from the Drone's grip. He tried kicking it, he tried punching it in the gut, ribs, sides and even attempted to reach up towards it's face and jam a finger into its eyes. The Drone responded by pressing more of its weight on Peter as it practically straddled him and raised the smaller human up slightly by the neck before slamming him into the ground with enough force to crack the blooded ground beneath him. Peter felt what very little breath he still had in him leave as the Drone repeated the process several more times before it roared right into his face, bits of sweat and blood peppering Peter's lenses

' _ShitShitShitShitShit!'_ Peter thought with terror as he tried to pry the dammed things hands off, his vision beginning to darken as it felt like his throat was about to either break before suddenly Bobbi was on it with her bayonet going right in its eyes, causing the Grub to roar in pained surprise before she shot off a single bullet into its head at point blank range, completely destroying the head in a shower of brains, blood and skull fragments that splashed on to both Guard's helmet and upper chest

"…Okay, eww!" Peter gaged as he pushed the now dead Grub off him and reached for his rifle as it was kicked over by Bobbi as she kept her's trained on the doorway for any signs of Locust re-enforcements.

The rest of the Grubs had been taken care of by Black Four and it sounded like something was happening outside that caused the Locust to halt in their assault on the main hall. Peter stood up with a pained grown that quickly turned into a coughing fit as his throat flared in pain. His entire body was aching from the fighting and the less than friendly wrestling he just endured with the now dead Drone at his feet. He could faintly make out Lancer fire outside along with sounded like Drones, Boomers and those freakish screaming Locust dying

Peter glanced at Bobbi as he removed his helmet and spat about a small amount of blood, having bit down on his cheek when he was slammed into the ground by the Grub "Back up?"

"That, or one of the Drones out there stepped on another's foot and now their wasting each other" Bobbi said as the building shook again and caused a bit more of the ceiling to collapse on to the floor in small hand sized chunks "This keeps up, won't be a museum left by morning"

"And if there is, it'll have one big ass skylight" Peter nodded as he and the others picked up movement at the entrance and quickly took aim, fingers on the trigger and waited to see if it was backup that had arrived or more Locust

"Hold your fire, we're Gears! Not grubs, Gears!" a very human voice yelled before a man appeared through the smoke with a slight cough. He seemed to be around Peter's age with blonde hair that was covered in dust, blood and mud and decked out in the typical blue Gear armor minus the helmet with the markings of a lieutenant and a pair of goggles on his head with a bloodied Hammerburst in his hand followed quickly by three others that were all equally armed with the Locust's main infantry rifle

One of them, a man with dark skin, closed shaved cut hair and small earrings in each ear practically towered over the rest. Peter for a moment gaped at the man, never seeing a Gear as big as him before and the armor he had on made him seem even larger.

Next to that guy was a young and fairly attractive woman with red hair tied in a ponytail with a few spots that looked like they may have been burned a little. She was decked out in the standard variant of Onyx Armor for a woman like Bobbi was minus the helmet like her other teammates, but she didn't have a visible rank, meaning she was still a Cadet. Plus, the way she walked kind of gave it away to Peter, she didn't have that sort of confidence in her step or that ever subtle commanding stride that Peter's seen others walk with

' _Then again, I still haven't gotten that part down'_ Peter thought with a chuckle as he glanced at the final member of the squad and quirked a brow at the man's appearance

The right side of his face and arm were badly burned, like he stood too close to a flamethrower or one hell of a painful explosion that was more incendiary based than concussive. He had this scowl on his face that seemed to be etched in stone, like somehow everything around him was an insult that he couldn't stand and was clad in what looked standard Gear armor painted in UIR colors

"Wow… you're the first squad I've met that doesn't wear helmets" Peter gestured to their exposed heads

"Couldn't find one big enough for my head" the dark-skinned man said with a chuckle as he rubbed the top of his head that was covered in a mixture of sweat and grime "Used to have a bandanna but that went to shit in my first fire fight"

"I lost mine…" the red head said a little sullenly and Peter couldn't blame her, those things cost three times as much as a standard Gear's helmet!

The Sergeant of Black Four approached the four and glanced at them with a hidden frown even though it could be heard in his voice when he spoke

"You're not Onyx"

It was than the red head clear her throat as she stepped forward and spoke before any of the others could "I'm Onyx"

The Sergeant glanced at her and shook his head in that condescending kind of way that caused her to bristle "No you're not, Cadet"

"Okay look, can we save the cadet, not a cadet crap for later?" Bobbi said as she stepped forward and glanced at the apparent leader of this rag tag squad "Who sent you?"

"Loomis" the blonde said as he gave Bobbi a salute that seemed a little force, either from exhaustion or just not really giving too much a damn. Peter was willing to bet it was both "Lieutenant Baird of Kilo Squad, ma'am"

Even though Bobbi was only a Corporal, being part of the Onyx Guard gave her and other members a certain higher unofficial/official standing in the COG's army. Now if Baird was the more experienced officer, she'd be saluting him but it was clear to everyone that he was still new. Like probably enlisted around E-Day new, which meant that Bobbi and the Sergeant of Black Four were his CO's at the moment.

Before any could comment, the building shook again, this time to the point that it caused the Gears to stumble and nearly fall face first into the ground before the tremor was followed by a loud piercing roar that cased Peter to shiver in dread, whatever it was didn't sound like a Brumak or Corpser. It honestly sounded worse in his opinion

It was then that Black Four's sergeant held a hand to the side of his helmet where the built in commlink and TAC com was and seemed to be listening to something before he nodded and glanced at the rest of his squad "The East wing is getting hammered, Black Four on me!"

"What about us?" Peter asked as he brushed some dust off his shoulder

"Stay here with Kilo and hold this room!" the man shouted as he and the others raced towards the East Wing

Peter, Bobbi and Kilo Squad watched them go for a moment before the big tank built man from Kilo spoke as he held up his borrowed Hammerburst "Uh, does anyone know where I can get a Lancer? I mean these Grub guns are nice and all but they just don't have the same kind of flare as a Lancer, you know?"

"We stacked some rifles over there" Bobbi nodded towards a section of the room where they were gathering their fallen "Pick whichever one you want"

"Thank you, ma'am, oh and I'm sorry for your guys… never really met Onyx before but I'm told you boys and girls know how to bring the pain" he said with a respectful nod before he and the red head wandered over to change out their weapons while Peter glanced at Baird and the UIR trooper he had with him for a few moments before he held out his hand

"Peter…"

"…Baird" the blonde said as he took his hand and shook it before nodding towards the Indie "This is Paduk, the big guy is Cole and the 'cadet' is Hendrick"

"Cole, as in the Cole Train?" Bobbi said with obvious surprise as she glanced at the famous Thrashball star "Damn… and me without my Thrashball to for him to sign"

"You can always have him sigh your chest, you COG women usually prefer that, yes?" Paduk said with a notable accent, indicating he was possibly from Gorasanaya or maybe even Symkaria. He glanced around the room before letting out a grin chuckle at the sight of dead Onyx Guards "COG's elite hmm? Not very impressive…"

"I'm sorry but whose rat shit alliance got on its knees and begged for mercy when we blasted one of its raggedy ass fleets to scarp?" Bobbi snapped with a glare that could be seen through her helmet "Cause it sure as hell wasn't us you little backwater inbred Indie fuck!"

"Whoa easy there Bobbi, ease up on the Indie hate" Peter placed a hand on her shoulder before shooting a glance at Paduk who seemed unafraid of the prospect of Bobbi kicking his ass, if anything he was looking forward to that sort of fight "Can you please try not to piss of my teammate?"

"No…" Paduk said with a shrug before he turned and went to retrieve a Lancer himself, at least the man had the decency to not kick the corpses of dead Onyx Guardsman he passed

"Paduk, play nice with the deadly elite Gear" Baird said as he glanced around the hall and took in the fortifications with a critical eye and saw the large pile of Grubs on the far end, some of the Boomers were left where they died given it'd take a good four or five men just to lift and move one "Shit, how hard have they been hitting this place?"

"As much as a hammer hits a nail on a construction site" Peter said with a sigh before they suddenly heard the museum's intercom came online "Huh, thought the Grubs took that thing out already…"

"We got Grubs tunneling in towards the Main Hall. Finnish them off before going any further!" a unknown Onyx Guard said before the intercom switched off

"Well, least the brake was nice while it lasted" Baird said with a tired sigh as he checked his Lancer "Alright Kilo, Loomis sent us here to help out and that's what we're going to do. Let's show these Grubs that regular Gears can kick just as much ass as Onyx can!"

"Is it a bad time to mention I have to use the little Onyx boy's room? I haven't gone since we got here" Peter groaned as he, Bobbi and the rest of Kilo scattered and took up defensive positions among some of the now mostly destroyed exhibits on display. Their rifles aimed at where the Locust have been breaching through for the past few hours now

"Man, I don't think the pluming even works around here anymore" Cole said as he fiddled with the loose bloodied bayonet on his Lancer before he simply removed it and slid it into his armor's belt, might need it later if all else fails

Peter's chuckle from Cole's comment was caught off by a loud rumble outside that was quickly replaced by numerous roars and yells belonging to a large contingent of Locust Drones, a few Boomers and what sounded like those really tall screaming Locust guys

Peter frowned as he glanced at the members of Kilo "Anyone gotta a name for those screaming Locust guys with the machine gun pistol thing?"

"Their called Kantus, they have this chant or whatever that seems like a rally cry for these assholes. Or it's threats to mutilate them if they don't pick themselves up and keep fighting" Baird said as he trained his sights on the doorway that was about to be filled with numerous Drones in seconds

"Oh… sounds like this priest that used to live down the street from me" Bobbi said as she flexed her finger on the trigger

"Well…" Cole said as he slapped in a fresh clip for his rifle "I guess even monsters need a little faith every once in a while… or some kind of justification for what they're doing"

The Gears waited in silence for several tense seconds before suddenly the entryway, or what was left of it was completely blown apart and over several dozen Locust Drones rushed through led by a screaming Kantus Priest.

…

* * *

And done.

Next chapter, Peter and Bobbi join forces with Kilo in the fight for the Museum of Military Glory and get a glimpse at the orchestrater of E-day and the deaths of hundreds of millions!


	4. Chapter 4

Answers to reviewers' questions or statements:

 **Cyclopz** : The lemons can happen when Peter and the others aren't being deployed or hell their out on a long-term mission of some sort and hold up in a secure area for the night and…pass the time and give into the moment I suppose.

 **Spawn Hades:** She's actually finally made a reappearance in the recent Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-man comics but it seems Marvel is going with the whole they're not brother and sister thing at the moment.

 **henchmen213** : Paduk is a former Major in the UIR, from the Republic of Gorasanaya. He's a bit of a dick but a pretty decent guy to have in our corner. He'll be a sort of regular in the story since I'm gonna have him stay with the COG unlike in the games.

 **Krolikson** : I've been toying with the idea for Peter to take an old Jack bot that got destroyed and over the course of the story have Peter tinker with it and such along with something else, a sort of coping mechanism for him to help when his witty banter, quips and jokes aren't enough for him. As for him talking to it and what not, I have something else in mind for him to do that. Now at first, it'll seem a little wired but as time goes on I think it will grow on people.

 **Dr** **Sugarcakes** : What other tropes are there aside the helmets? Sera I think is just a human home world in some other universe, but the idea it might not be their original home does give me some interesting ideas that I may explore later on. I think there's only a few dozen Hammer of Dawn satellites that were over launched, a single satellite can cover a wide area if it's converted into a laser based weapon I imagine. The reason why it seems so limited is because the Locust come up inside cities filled with civilians and COG military personnel. Kind of hard to level a city when it's filled with your men and people you swore to protect plus the Locust live underground, kind of hard to kill them with an orbital weapon. Coupled with the COG being unable to go up there and make repairs and what not is also another reason it began to decline after a few years. Satellites require a lot of maintenance to keep working up there plus this isn't taking into account all of the debris that's probably up there.

 **Guest** : I might add one of those girls to the harem for War World.

 **90'skid4life** : They won't fight over him too much, mainly because they'll have each other to keep them company when he's not around.

 **Yorhart Meltz** : I was originally going to do something like that but what I have planned to have happen at Onyx Point will require the entire squad, they're going to need the extra muscle with what I have coming that people will hopefully like. It's something that I sort of saw in Gears of War 3 that made me think 'what if this also was made like that…'.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or Gears of War characters seen, mentioned or used

* * *

Peter let out a pained groan as he felt his ears ringing like someone was holding a tuning fork to his head and having it amplified by a microphone. He found his vision blurred as he looked around him and could faintly make out muzzle flashed from both Kilo Squad and the advancing Locust Horde.

The reason why Peter was in such a state had to do with the Nemacysts that he spotted earlier outside the broken windows before the museum was hit by the first round of Locusts. Turns out the Kantus leading this wave had decided to use the twisted floating jellyfish to aid in their attack and hammer into the defenses that Peter, Bobbi and Kilo had been able to get back up and running before it and the Drones ever stepped through the blood ridden doorway.

Peter head someone shouting his name, he couldn't tell who it was but he swore it sounded like Cole given he was the closest man to Peter before several Nemacysts slammed into the cover that he and the former Thrashball star were using.

"Peter, come on baby snap out of it!" Cole's voice began to sound clearer before Peter felt himself thrown into the wall and covered by Cole as several Hammerburst rounds raced over the two's head and into the wall. Peter shook his head a bit to help him better focus just in time to see a drone approaching his and Cole's position with a Lancer it gained a hold of. Peter quickly drew his Snub pistol and fired off several shots towards its upper torso and head.

The Drone roared in pain and anger as several of the bullets pierced its shoulders and the final one clipping it in the side of the face before Cole turned with his own Lancer and emptied half the clip into it's body. Peter watched the Locust collapse before he glanced around and saw his Lancer lying next to him. He grabbed it and pushed himself up as Cole kept several Drones and a Boomer back with short bursts fired from his rifle.

"Thanks…" Peter said as he winced at feeling a bit of pain flash through his skull before he forced himself to ignore it and join Cole in keeping over a dozen Locust drones from overrunning their position.

"Hey, we all in this shit together man. Gotta watch out for each other if we want to make it to see the next day" Cole said as he pulled off a headshot one the lone Boomer of the group and let out a short laugh as the now dead beast fell on to a surprised Grub "Heh, now that's one for the highlight reel baby, Whoo!"

Peter chuckled as he saw a Grub approaching and fired off several shots into it's chest, pushing it back and causing it to trip over one of it's fallen comrades before Peter finished it with a shot to the forehead. Peter didn't have time to admire his handiwork as he was forced to duck under a small burst of fire from the Kantus leading the assault. He peeked from around his corner to try and take a shot at it but the Kantus and several Drones focused fire on his and Cole's position.

"GAH!" Peter yelped as he just narrowly pulled his head back before it was given several new holes. The bullets began to rapidly chew away at the two's cover and forced them to almost lie prone to avoid getting peppered full of whatever metal the Locust rounds were made from.

Nearby, Bobbi was with Baird and Hendrick and saw that half the remaining Locust had switched from trying to converge on their position and focus fire on where Peter and Cole were. She made to assist before she suddenly took a Hammerburst round to the shoulder.

"AH, SON OF A FUCKING TWAT!" Bobbi shouted in pain as the serrated round tore through her shoulder and out the other end and into the wall behind her.

Bobbi gritted her teeth as she fell back into cover and pressed her hand against the bullet wound to help stem the bleeding. Hendrick's saw this and crouched beside her and began to fumble for something in her belt. Bobbi saw her pull out a few bandages and some bio-foam, it appeared that the cadet was the medic of Kilo squad.

' _Convenient…'_ Bobbi mentally hissed as she felt another flare of pain race across her shoulder as Hendrick pulled Bobbi's hand out of the way and placed the nozzle for the bio-foam into the wound.

She flashed Bobbi a look of remorse "Sorry ma'am, but this is going to hurt like hell-"

"Fuckin do it already!" Bobbi snapped before she felt the cool sting of the bio-foam fill into the wound

While Hendrick was seeing to Bobbi, Baird was unloading clip after clip of his Lancer into several Boomers that were aiding in the latest wave to take the main hall from the COG. Baird looked around and saw Paduk behind one of the columns flanking the Locust messing with something that he couldn't quite see. He was forced back into cover as the Kantus briefly paused in it's firing on Peter and Cole to focus on him.

"Paduk…" Baird radioed the former UIR Major "What the hell are you doing over there?"

"Evening the odds a little… or just hastening our deaths. Either one" Paduk replied before Baird risked a look to see what the man was doing and saw he had taken several bolo Grenades and strapped them together with a bit of cloth from one of the destroyed exhibits and threw them into the heart of the Locust mob that had gathered in the center of the main hall

"Oh… nice" Baird said as he saw one of the Drones pause in it's shooting to glance down at it's feet and seemingly gape at the small bundle of explosives before it and the dozen Drones around it and a Boomer were engulfed in a large explosion of shrapnel and flames.

Grub body parts, blood and armor flew through the air and sent the rest into disarray. The leading Kantus ceased in it's shouting and pulled back behind cover, both to reload and avoid the gunfire that Peter and Cole began to return once the Locust barrage was literally halved.

It was around this time that Hendrick's finished up wrapping Bobbi's shoulder before she handed the blonde her Lancer and joined Baird, Paduk, Peter and Cole in concentrating their fire on the last two Boomers and half dozen Drones left standing. Bobbi took several deep breaths before she herself stood back up and began to open fire on the large Boomers. She had to hold back a hiss of pain as her shoulder flared up from the intense vibrations of firing her Lancer.

Peter was lying prone on the floor as he helped pick of the last of the Locust assault before he heard the Kantus began to do that weird chant yelling. He tried to get a fix on it's position and saw it was crouched behind a knocked down column. Peter took aim at it and prepared to fire before suddenly several Nemacysts crashed through the window and began to hammer on the Gears' positions.

"Dammit, I hate these things!" Hendrick's shouted over the coms as she, Baird and Bobbi took shelter from the living mortar rounds hammering into their location.

"Try shooting them out of the air!" Cole said as he took aim at a Nemacysts coming towards him and Peter and fired off a single round that pierced the flying mortar's armor before it exploded in a small cloud inky like vapor that while appeared harmless could be quite toxic in large quantities and had a habit of playing havoc on radio transmissions.

' _Have to give it to the Locust, that thing, harmless and as weird as it looks is probably it's most valuable piece of bio-tech. The ability to act as a sort of guided ready to assist mortar against either Gears or our aircraft on top of being able to jam our transmissions can make overwhelming us even easier'_ Peter thought as he split his firing between trying to take out the still living Kantus that was blinding it's full automatic machine pistol and any Nemacysts that Cole couldn't hit and got too close.

Minutes passed as wave after wave of Nemacysts poured into the hall through the long-gone windows and the room was starting to ink up, making it harder to see and move. It was then that the toxic like vapor that Nemacysts excluded both alive and when they die was beginning to affect the members of Kilo Squad. He concluded that they needed to end this fast and prevent the Kantus from calling in more, however it does, or Bobbi and him will be on their own since Kilo will be too busy choking on the ground.

Peter checked his ammo and saw that he only had one clip left in his Lancer and maybe a few shots in his side arm. Peter grumbled at this as he rose to a kneeling position and scanned the room to locate the Kantus and saw that it was slowly making it's way back towards the entrance. Peter concluded it wasn't so much running was as calling in re-enforcements as the Nemacysts were likely starting to play havoc with it's own radio.

' _But I'm assuming that just because our Radios go to carp when these things are around, that means theirs does too. If anything, it's about to send the mother of all_ _Nemacysts_ _barrage into this place and it doesn't want to get caught in the crossfire'_ Peter thought as he waited until Cole shot several more of the flying mortars out of the air and rushed the Kantus with a grunt.

The Kantus seemed to sense Peter approaching and turned to see the young Onyx Guard blitzing him. The Kantus roared in defiance as it raised it's weapon to shoot at Peter but was prevented from firing thanks to cover fire from Paduk and Hendrick who saw Peter's dash towards the last reaming ground Locust trooper. Peter closed the distance fairly quick and with a yell he jammed his Lancer's bayonet right into one of the gunshot wounds the Kantus received from either Paduk and Cole. The blade easily pieced through the exposed flesh and deeper into the Kantuss body, causing it to roar in pain before it grabbed Peter by the shoulder with a near bone crushing grip, the metal plates of his armor growing under the amount of pressure it was enduring.

Peter's finger flew to the trigger and squeezed it and allowed Peter to unload the last of his remaining bullets right into the gut of the Kantus. Blood sprayed over Peter's lenses as he at the same time kept pushing his Lancer into it's gut until finally the tip of the blade erupted from the Grub's back and the Kantus let out a last roar of pain and anger into Peter's face before he kicked it off with a grunt and nearly stumbled back from the sudden weight of his weapon.

Peter was about to move back into cover before suddenly a Nemacysts exploded not too far from him, causing him to yelp in surprise and raise his Lancer and scanned the area for anymore of the Locusts' deadly mortars.

"Sorry sir, but I figured you'd rather not end up a pile of mutilated parts" the red head said, indicating she was the one to shoot the Nemacysts.

Peter lowered his weapon as he gave her a nod "Thanks, and your right, I really would rather not end up like someone shoved a fire cracker in me and let it go off in a inky cloud of gore and whatever the hell that stuff it makes"

Peter glanced around the body ridden hall and saw Paduk wandering around the Locust bodies and putting the occasional bullet in one to make sure it was still dead. Or just because he could since Peter watched him shoot a headless Drone's corpse before he stomped on what was left of it's torso and moved on. Cole and Hendrick were doing something similar, the latter stopping to recover a few grenades while Cole scavenged a Gnasher from one of the dead Drones and checked to see it still had some shells in it and placed it on his armor's magnetic clamps on the back.

"Hmm, maybe I should think about carrying another weapon like that. Might come in handy if I run out of ammo for my rifle…" Peter mumbled to himself as he approached Bobbi and Baird and felt a rush of concern when he saw the bloodied shoulder on his squad mate "You okay?"

"Just a flesh wound" Bobbi waved off his concern before she hissed a little in pain "Nothing short of a trip to the infirmary when we get back to base can't fix"

"If there's a base to head back to" Baird said as he let out a short cough as he accidently inhaled some of the ink like substance the Nemacysts produce "Shit, that stuff is nasty"

"Maybe you should wear a helmet" Peter offered.

"Will that really make a difference?" Baird asked with a quirked brow.

"Honestly, no not really but hey at least you won't be able to smell it as much" Peter said as he looked around for any spare ammo now that he was out.

It was than the museum's intercom came on again, this time another Gear speaking and he sounded much more frantic then the other one. The Gears could also pick up sounds of gunfire and grenades going off in the background.

"Any and all re-enforcements, proceed to the East wing. Black Four is getting hammered over here!"

The intercom shut off or was likely destroyed and the last standing defenders of the main hall glanced at each other for silent confirmation before Paduk slapped in a fresh clip for his side arm before walking past the group and towards the same entryway Black Four took earlier.

"If we don't hurry, they're not going to make it"

"Wow Paduk, you sound pretty concerned for a bunch of Onyx Guards that you had no problem bad mouthing a few minutes ago" Baird said as he and the rest followed.

"Eh, I just don't want to have to pick up their slack in killing the Grubs because they died" Paduk said with a wave of his hand.

"Baby steps I suppose" Peter leaned in towards Cole who chuckled

"Yeah, still can't expect the man to go from enemy of the COG to loyal soldier in just a few months after decades of fighting" the former Thrashball player said

"Then why is he fighting with us?" Peter asked, a little louder than necessary so that Paduk could hear.

"Think of it as an excuse to avenge my people by killing as many of these Grubs as I can" the former UIR Major answered with a shrug.

Kilo Squad, Peter and Bobbi silently made their way through the halls of the museum, passing several dead Onyx guards along the way along with quite a few Grubs. The tragedy was that it seemed that there were more COG casualties then Locust. The group continued to move through the blood and bullet ridden halls before they came across a small ammo cache that was set up earlier. Kilo squad took this time to stack up on some much-needed ammo and a few grenades that were still lying about before they moved closer to the East Wing. Several moments passed before they finally came up on the Kaskuar wing of the museum and encountered more Locust who had commandeered the turrets set up there by the now dead Onyx Guards.

"Ah crap" Peter said as they rushed to cover as the Drone manning the turret opened fire on the group of humans the moment it saw them enter the large hall. The bullets just barely missed them as they ducked behind a destroyed display case, making sure to stay away from the edges and keep their heads down or risk a bullet o the skull and a one-way ticket to the afterlife.

"He's not alone!" Cole shouted over the gunfire as he nodded towards over a dozen Drones all wearing an odd helmet with a single glowing lens, giving them a cycloptic appearance, moving in from behind the turret and through a small branched off hall of sorts filled with a variety of artifacts from the historical nation of Kaskur.

What was truly concerning about these Drones was that they were all armed with Lancers that they either gained from raiding an ammo depot like Kilo did just minutes ago or more likely, acquired from the bodies of Gears they killed. The drones seemed to be moving to flank them while the turret kept them pinned down, if they didn't move soon, they'd be picked off one by one like fish in a barrel. Baird and Bobbi saw this before giving each other a small nod with the lieutenant giving the first set of orders.

He gestured to Peter and Hendrick before nodding towards the Drones "Take them out and try to flank that turret. We'll keep it focused on us"

"How?" Peter asked as he ducked his head further down as a price of glass ricocheted into the side of his helmet as the turret chewed into their cover.

"By doing this…" Baird said as he stood up from cover as the turret took this time to cool down and opened fire on the Locust Drone followed quickly by Paduk, Bobbi and Cole.

Peter hummed at this as he bumped Kilo squad's medic and gestured for her to follow after him. The two kept their heads ducked as the turret resumed firing on the rest of the squad's position and now the Lancer fire from the Cycloptic Drones taking up firing positions in the connected hall. Peter shot off several rounds to keep the Locust from firing on him and Hendrick and had just entered the hall to see something that caused Peter to think that he had a better chance of rushing the fixed turret in the main hall.

At the far end of the connected hall was another fixed turret manned by one of those weird helmeted Drones… and four Boomers armed with shields and large maces… oh and the dozen or so Cycloptic helmet Drones that were armed with Lancers.

"…Oh fuck me" Peter said before he was dragged into cover by Hendrick as the turret opened fire on the duo and the Boomers began to approach them, their maces being swung around as if it weighed as much as a feather to the large creatures.

The upside was that the Drones didn't seem to fond of getting close and decided to stay back and let their more heavily armed and armored relatives take care of the humans. This both intrigued and concerned Peter. He was intrigued because it showed that while these Drones had some questionable clothing options, they seemed to be a bit smarter than the standard Drones he's been fighting all night.

And that concerned him.

' _Great, Drones that think a bit more…perfect'_ Peter thought as he shot at several of the Boomers only to watch with dismay as they crouched and activated their shields. The sides and top extending outward a bit to provide more cover. At least it caused them to stop flinging that mace of theirs around and slowed their approach a bit.

Peter's red headed companion began to fire off small two round bursts at the parts of the Boomers that were still exposed, mainly the shoulders and ankles, in attempt to slow them down even further. Peter used this moment to quickly scan the hall for something that could give them an advantage and quick, it sounded like things weren't going too well for the rest of Kilo and Bobbi.

'Okay Peter, your pinned down with four large Boomers with shields and maces approaching you with a dozen Lancer wielding Drones behind them and a turret behind that. So how can you counter that?' Peter's mind began to race through possible ideas before he saw that Hendrick had one bolo grenade and a smoke grenade left. Peter's eyes narrowed a little at this as he glanced back at the approaching Boomers and got a idea that will either help him get rid of the Locusts' heavy troopers or get him killed.

"Fuck it" Peter said before he suddenly snatched both grenades off Hendrick's belt, much to her surprise and slightly annoyance and rushed the Boomers.

Sofia saw this and gaped at the man "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

"SOMETHING STUPIDLY HEROIC!" Peter replied as he threw the smoke grenade into the center of the Boomer's formation and watched as they and soon him were enveloped by the white smoke.

Peter went towards the closest Boomer that had stopped it's advance, mainly because it could no longer see and did something that Peter knew will more than likely get him killed.

He tapped it on the shoulder and waited for it to turn towards him before giving it the finger.

The Boomer roared at Peter and swung it's mace at Peter who leaped back and found himself bump into the back of another Boomer as the mace collided with the ground and made a small explosion that sent him almost flying through the air. The Boomer stumbled forward a little from the force of Peter's collision before it swung it's mace back blindly to hit whatever bumped it. Peter used this moment to duck under the Boomer and watched with grim satisfaction as the first Boomer had rushed after Peter and collided right into the mace of the one he collided with.

The Boomer let out a surprised growl before the mace collided with it's head and erupted into a shower of brains and skull fragments. Peter watched with a face as one of the Boomer's eyes landed next to his head while the Boomer standing above Peter had it's entire front doused in the blood of it's dead comrade. The sudden death of one of the Boomers caused the other two still in the smoke could to begin wildly flaring their maces around, hitting everything around it or that might look like a enemy. Peter quickly rolled out of the way as the Boomer above him took a step forward before another mace swung out of the smoke and hit it's leg, the result was a small explosion of blood, bone and the Boomer's armor as it fell to the ground with a surprised roar. That was silenced as another mace appeared and slammed into it's head, destroying it and sending bits of it into Peter's frame. The Onyx Guard watched or more accurately listened as the remaining Boomers seemed to have accidently killed or injured themselves and saw that the smoke was thinning.

Peter rushed towards the Boomer that was first killed and nearly threw his back out ripping the things shield off and activated it by pressing down on a large trigger attached to the handle. He crouched down and used it for cover just as the smoke cleared enough for the Locust Drones to open fire on his position.

' _Surprised they didn't open fire after hearing their Boomer friends die, but I guess they figured that one of them was alive and dint want to risk pissing it off. With those maces, I know I wouldn't!'_ Peter thought as he felt the shield vibrate and shake as the Lancer rounds peppered it's unknown metal in a shower of sparks.

Sofia saw Peter was pinned down and began to provide cover fire, forcing several of the Drones back into cover and allow Peter to begin advancing forward a little. After several moments, he reached a small entryway that led out back into the main hall and lowered the shield down a little and propped it up in it's sides in the formation of an 'X' before he took the bolo grenade and set it to proximity setting and attached it to the back and rushed towards the entryway and took cover. Several of the drones saw Peter's rush to cover and advanced on him while the turret fired on Sofia's spot, forcing her into cover.

The drones had just reached where Peter had taken cover when they all heard a faint beeping over the sounds of gunfire and looked to see the grenade attached to the shield. One of the Drones tried to make a run for it before the grenade went off, killing them and the shield being torn apart with it's pieces flying through the air, some of which either injured the nearby Drones that were making to follow after the first group, and forced the rest back into cover.

Sofia saw this and quickly rushed forward, keeping low to avoid the turret fire and ducked behind a display case that had a now a bunch of blood stained 'Silver Era' gems and jewels. The Onyx Cadet searched for signs of Peter and saw him lying behind a partially collapsed pillar as the turret that had Kilo pinned now focus fire on him. The upside was that Kilo got to advance forward from their near destroyed cover towards better protected and durable display cases.

Bobbi peeked over her cover and saw the wall Peter was hiding behind was starting to crumble and felt herself tense as a round pierced through and nearly hit Peter in the head. She turned her attention to the turret with narrowed eyes and raised her Lancer at the gun emplacements' operator and fired off a long burst that caused her injured shoulder to scream in protest. The plan worked and the Grub turned it's attention away from Peter.

Peter gave Bobbi a nod of thanks and rearmed himself with his Lancer before edging back into the smaller hall to see Sofia keeping the drones back with short controlled bursts. Peter joined her and with his angle was able to pick off a few Drones that had to either stay put and let him shoot them or risk breaking cover and have his teammate pick them off. Either way, it let Peter and Sofia advance forward a little before being forced back into cover by the still operational turret at the far end. Peter frowned as he saw that was now more cover for him and Sofia to advance to thanks to the turret and the fact the Grubs had taken it.

It was then he contacted the rest of Kilo "Anyone got a spare grenade or something?"

"No, why?" Baird asked.

"There's a turret at the far end of the hall me and Cadet Hendrick are trying to move through" Peter said before forcing to duck as one of the Drones began to shoot at Peter.

"Fresh out" Paduk said as he tried to shoot the turret operator in the main hall but was forced back into cover.

"Sorry, but I've got nothing but if you need a decoy I can do it" Cole said as he blind fired his Lancer at the turret, the rounds sparking off the small shield wielding on by the Locust to provide better cover for its operator.

"Nope" Bobbi said as she joined Cole in shooting at the turret "Baird, you have anything?"

Baird was busy reloading before a thought came to him and he looked own at his magazine with a calculating expression. He reached into another pouch on his belt and pulled out a small knife. He removed several bullets from the clip and began the process of cutting them open to remove the gunpowder and pour it on to a small piece of fabric from one of the now destroyed Kaskur banners near his location. After he emptied the contents he took a few pieces of metal and stone and glass lying on the ground and poured it on top of the gunpowder and tied it up into a small ball.

"I think I have something" Baird radioed the others as he peeked out from behind his cover to see how far the turret was "But I'm going to use it to take this turret out or at least give us a chance to rush it. After that, we can take out the other one"

"Go for it" Peter said as he and Sofia hunkered down and kept the Cycloptic helmed Drones from approaching "but make it quick. I don't have infinite ammo"

"Copy that…" Baird said as he threw the small ball towards the turret and watched it land right near the feet of the Drone through the exposed pillars of the railing it and the turret were behind.

Baird drew his side arm and took very, very careful aim and steadied his breathing for a moment and pulled the trigger. For a moment, it looked like his makeshift grenade wouldn't work before a small explosion went off near the drone's lower body and caused it to collapse in pain, blood painting the turret and railing.

"Kilo, now!" Baird said as they rushed towards the turret's position while the Drone tried to stand back up only for it to fail. Several pieces of metal and stone had embedded themselves in it's leg, possibly crippling it.

Bobbi reached the placement first and put several shots in the downed Locust while Cole rushed towards the turret keeping Peter and Sofia pinned in the other hall. Paduk took possession of the turret and turned it towards the wall where he assumed the remaining Locust were based on where Peter and Sofia were shooting and fired.

Peter watched as the turret's rounds pierced through the old stone walls and began to hit some of the drones in their cover, taking them by complete surprise. The turret looked like ti was about to turn and fire back before Cole appeared and slammed into the Drone with a yell, knocking both over.

"Move up!" Peter signaled towards Sofia as the broke cover and rushed forward, firing on the remaining Drones that had escaped Paduk's barrage.

They didn't take long to put down and the duo arrived at the turret just in time to see Cole had the Drone in a headlock before he suddenly twisted it's head as hard and as far as he could until he was rewarded with a loud-

 **KRAAKK!**

The Drone went limp and Cole pushed it off him with a huff "Damn, they make it seem so easier in the movies"

"In your defense, they did that to humans, not really durable Locust Drones" Peter said as he held his hand out for Cole to take and pulled the larger man up with a grunt "Man, your heavy"

Cole laughed at this as he picked up his Lancer "All muscle baby, my momma didn't raise no skinny boy"

"Either that or I really need to hit the gym later" Peter said as he rubbed his arm while he, Sofia and Cole made their way towards Paduk, Baird and Bobbi.

"Hmm, the East wing should be through that doorway over there" Baird nodded towards a pair of heavy set doors that seemed to be sealed shut.

"Just have Cole rush it" Peter said with a snort before a loud crack followed by several Hammerburst rounds flew over his head "WHOA!"

"Locust!" Paduk said as he saw multiple Drones and a Boomer approaching from where they just came "I think they've taken the main hall"

"Yeah well they can keep it!" Bobbi said as she and the rest of the team rushed to cover while Paduk opened up with the turret.

It was than the heavy-set doors that led to the east wing were barged open to reveal another Boomer, this one armed with a Mulcher.

"Grind!" the Boomer shouted as the turret began to spin before Peter, Bobbi, Baird, Cole and Sofia peppered it's frame with a combined assault.

The Boomer roared and growled in pain as it took several steps forward and try to shoot them only for Sofia to score a headshot and drop the large Grub with a wet thud. Blood began to pour from the numerous gaping bullets wounds across the front of it's body while Paduk had finished tearing through the Locust reinforcements with the turret. Their limbs were scattered all over the ground along with litters if not gallons of dark Locust blood.

"Well, I don't think we have to worry about being flanked from our six anytime soon" Baird said as he peeked over to see the dead Locust before standing up and gesturing the rest to follow him towards the now opened doors to the East Wing "Come on Kilo, Black Four still needs us"

"Assuming they aren't dead already. I don't hear anymore gunfire from them and they're not answering their radios" Bobbi said with a frown.

"More of those Nemacysts maybe, or the things that make them?" Cole asked.

"Seeders, their called Seeders" Sofia supplied as she reloaded her Lancer but stopped to wipe some Locust blood out of her hair when a bot fell on her cheek "Ew…"

"I want to say that the helmet helps, but honestly the bits just get stuck in the filters and your stuck with the smell until you can clean it out" Bobbi said as she helped her fellow female soldier brush some of the Locust gore out of her hair.

"How do you breathe then?" Cole asked with a frown.

"Though our mouths" Peter and Bobbi said simultaneously in dry tones.

"And that's why I don't wear a helmet…plus it's hard to see through that thing sometimes" Baird said as he tapped his goggles "These let me see better and don't restrict sight as much"

"A bullet to the head will though" Paduk said

"Man, you are just made of sunshine and optimism, aren't you?" Peter said with a chuckle.

"No…I'm a realist" the man said as the squad had finally arrived in the smoked filled East Wing to see only three members of Black Four still standing.

Black Three, their squad mate and the other Onyx Guardsmen stationed here beforehand were all dead along with dozens of Locust corpses ranging from Drones to a few Kantus' and some Boomers. Peter also picked out a few Locust Drones clad in some sort of red armor and looked to be more heavily armed and had some sort of bow looking device either on their back or near their bodies.

' _Hmm…something tells me I don't want to get hit by whatever that is'_ Peter thought as Black Four noticed them.

The sergeant stepped forward and gestured towards them "You, stay here and defend this area. There's something big out there"

His statement was followed by a loud piercing roar that Peter, Bobbi and Kilo Squad had been hearing all night. Whatever it was, it was close, maybe outside the museum itself.

' _Something tells me whatever it is, it won't be hard to miss…'_ Peter thought nervously as he watched Black Four rush outside where it sounded like the rest of the Onyx detachment for the museum had moved to just before another piercing roar echoed through the area, the cracked glass on the windows shaking and threatening to shatter.

The Gears quickly went about securing the hall, reloading some of the few automated turrets still on line and checking to see if the laser trip wires still had enough power. It was during this brief respite of fighting that Baird noticed something odd about one of the displays, there were multiple dead Onyx Guards around it. The lieutenant's eyes narrowed as he glanced at the display and saw that it was occupied by a set of armor that looked vaguely familiar to the heir to the now destroyed Baird family fortune.

Sofia came to stand next to him and squinted "Is that…"

"Nassar Embry's armor? Yes, it is" Bobbi said as she came to stand next to the duo and gave the armor used by the founder of the COG a once over "Surprised it's still here"

"Mustn't had time to extract it" Peter said as he slapped a fresh clip into a sentry turret before looking to see the large number of dead Guardsmen and women around it "And I guess our people thought it was worth dying over"

"Why? It's just armor" Paduk said with a frown directed at the relic.

"It's symbolic" Baird said with a sigh as he rubbed his brow "And Command will likely be expecting us to keep the damn thing safe given how many dead Onyx there are around the thing"

"What makes you say that?" Bobbi asked with a quirked brow.

"How many people in command borderline worship Nassar Embry and his ideals? And how many of them will be pissed if they find out we let his armor get destroyed by the Grubs?" Baird asked with a dry look

"…"

"…"

"…Dammit" Bobbi said with a sigh before the building shook again followed by another roar, this time shattering most of the windows from the sheer volume of it followed by a small tremor.

"Hey, we're about to have company!" Cole said as he aimed his Lancer at the door that Black Four rushed through that was now beginning to shake from the Locust on the other side trying to punch through.

"Uh just for clarification, do we really need to protect that armor?" Peter asked as he and Paduk got a line of sight on the entryway.

"Yeah, but hey look on the bright side, the Grubs will be more focused on it then us probably" Baird said as he went to stand next to Cole while Sofia and Bobbi stayed close to the display case.

Paduk couldn't help but sigh "I can't believe I'm putting my life on the line for the founder of the COG's glorified fuckin laundry…I can feel my long dead countrymen and comrades turning in their graves by the hundreds"

"Could be worse" Peter said as he adjusted his grip on his Lancer.

"How?" the former UIR soldier asked with a skeptical brow.

"You could be asked to protect his corpse" Peter suggested.

"Hmmm…fair point" Paduk nodded as the doors finally gave and the Locust began to rush in.

…

* * *

And done.

Next chapter, the battle for the museum takes a drastic turn and forces Kilo to come up with a new plan to beat back the Locust.


	5. Chapter 5

Answers to reviewers' questions or statements:

 **Spawn Hades** : Apparently giving Peter a family member outside his next to now useless frail Aunt May and his two clone brothers that are having some sort of angsty pissing contest is too much. Yeah Sofia is in the harem, she'll be part of Peter's squad after the battle for Halvo Bay and won't go I guess stranded like Paduk did who will also be sticking around. Just the thought of Marcus and Dom meeting the guy is interesting, especially when they find out he had a hand in the defenses of Aspho Point. I have no plans to have Bobbi killed anytime soon and if I did I'm going to wait until late in the story so that way the loss will hurt more for everyone, Peter and readers alike. I'm mental like that. And yeah, Peter really needs to get a girl but I've been hearing rumors their going to shoe horn Peter back into a relationship with Mary Jane again.

 **Dr Sugarcakes** : I've went through a few and I've picked out a few I think I'll explore or mention at least.

 **Marveldcfan** : The only family Peter has at the moment is his Uncle Ben, Aunt May, and his twin sister Teresa. As for the harem at this very moment: Bobbi Morse, Sofia Hendrick, Silver Sable, Alex Brand and Theceila

 **KasugaRomio** : If I just had Peter saving them all the time it'd get old fast. Next chapter it'll be Bobbi and Sofia's turn to save everyone. Right now, I'm not actively looking to expanding the War World harem, it's ridiculously big enough as it is but I may add a few others later.

 **henchmen213** : Depends on what you mean by eu. Like the Gears of War expanded universe with the books, comics and all that? If so yeah, it's worth a look, there it really begins to paint just what kind of messed up world Sera is in Gears of War that you don't really get a look at in the games.

 **Cyclopz** : Sometimes, it's the dumb idiotic plan that wins a fight, not the long well thought out one because there's a chance an unknown variable, like what Peter did, can completely derail it. Well Peter isn't as large as some of the other Onyx Guards but he's not small either, he's that sort of in-between part that a lot of others are in so as long as he doesn't do anything to give him away, pretty hard but Bobbi might have an easier time since she's his squad mate and has been around him long enough. He'll be getting his nickname soon enough, but for now he's still going by either Peter or Parker given he's still 'Green'. Yeah some of my fight scenes might need some build up but the true bitch about urban warfare like what Peter is in, is that you never know who or what is in the next room. You could be in a building that's 90% under your faction's control and you walk into a room across the hall filled with enemy combatants. So I'm trying to go with that whole 'you walk into a room and suddenly your surrounded and you have to react fast or get killed'. Peter and a few others will be bringing up the fact that the Locust attack has greatly altered the planet in ways that it'll never recover from. Already a close to a billion people are dead at this point and entire nations and cities have been destroyed and it's going to get even worse.

 **90skid4life** : I'm thinking of having it end at Gears of War 3 and have the events of the second saga be the sequel. Still deciding, I'm waiting to see when and where Gears 5 will come out and what it will be about.

 **Blue Viper** : Yes.

 **Krolikson** : I don't think it's that heavy, a Jack bot seems to be pretty light given it can easily fly through the air on a few propulsion jets. Plus the COG won't let the thing go to waste as resources start to get scarce. We'll be seeing how civilians react to Onyx Guards and it is different compared to how they will act around regular Gears, that Onyx armor' look kind of has a hand in that. I'll try to describe Peter's surroundings better but for now he's in a Locust overrun museum with only five people left for backup and a lot of blood and bodies everywhere, not much to describe other than hell.

 **Hardlight** : "Nobody be a hero, heroes don't last long here" Fenix said before touching Dom's shoulder "Come on Dom, let's go steal a Brumak and fight an entire army of Grubs almost singlehandedly after killing a Corpser on our own without the need of a tank or a hundred Gears but first weed need to kill a Leviathan on our own on a small boat in the middle of a lake with only our Lancers and like three grenades". Still that rushing off thing Peter's done won't work forever and it may end up coming back to bite him. There isn't many moral decisions being made because it's still early in the war, humanity hasn't gotten that desperate yet.

 **Guest** : Spider-man in the Underworld universe… how the hell has that never even come close to crossing my mind?! As for a Peter and Jessica Jones story, eh the idea has crossed my mind from time to time after watching the Netflix Jessica Jones show.

 **Esquire-man** : No, the armor is one of the declassified missions. Turns out all of the classified missions in Gears of War Judgement are canon so yeah, fun and desperate times ahead!

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or Gears of War characters seen, mentioned or used

* * *

It was clear to Peter five minutes into the latest fire fight for control of the East Wing that the Locust seemed to really, and he means really want this Museum. So far Kilo, Peter and Bobbi have been hit by just about everything the Locust could throw at them in regards to their standard infantry.

Over several dozen Drones, a few Boomers that were either armed with their Boomshots or even Mulchers that they ether scavenged off a dead Gear or from raiding a nearby weapons depot. What made matters worse was that there were two Kantus that were leading this assault and these ones had the idea to bring Tickers with them.

Tickers were these small little clicking creatures that the Locust would strap bombs to, Peter can just hear the outrage from animal rights activists, and would send the ticking little monsters into enemy lines and defenses and have them detonate, like landmines but that move.

But despite all of those, the one thing that was really pushing Kilo to its limits was the Locust drones donned in some sort of red armor and not only seemed to have far better training then your typical Grub, but seemed to be the Locust equivalent of a sergeant in how they seemed to be commanding the Drones now that Paduk and Baird had just finally killed the two Kantus just moments ago with a combination of a few bolo grenades they found and a whole lot off bullets to the heads and chest.

"Incoming!" Bobbi seemed to shout in Peter's ear piece as she tackled him to the ground just as a rocket from a Boomshot raced over their heads and collided with the wall behind them, sending chunks of marble in the air, some of which collided with the two's armor.

Peter had to hold back a wince as he felt his head flare up again in pain as a piece of marble collided with the side of his helmet that was dented from his less than friendly spar with a Drone earlier in the main hall.

"Ow…" Peter groaned as he tried to get back up but saw a Boomer approaching him and Bobbi, it's massive Boomshot zeroed in on the two "Uh-oh…"

" **Boom-"** the large drone like Grub said before it's face was suddenly hit by several rounds fired from Sofia as she moved to flank the larger combatant. The Boomer tried to turn its attention towards her despite the fact one of its eyes was just suddenly shot out by her when Peter grabbed his side arm and squeezed off the last few rounds in its clip into the stubborn brute's head.

The Boomer managed a gargled roar as blood poured from the wounds on its face, blinding it and forcing it to lower its Boomshot and move to wipe some of the blood of its face before suddenly a small arrow like projectile imbedded itself into its chest.

The Boomer didn't even seem to register the thing before it's upper torso was engulfed in a small but powerful explosion that sent its upper body in the air for a few meters before landing on a small pile of Locust Drones. Peter, Bobbi and Sofia looked to see that it was Cole who shot the Boomer with one of the odd bow like weapons he picked up off the ground near a long dead red armored Drone.

The former Thrashball player gave his weapon a surprised look before he gave out a short laugh "Damn… wasn't what I was going for but shit… I've gotta get me one of these!"

"Later Private…" Bobbi said as she pushed herself up off the ground and looked around the main hall to see that so far, they've managed to beat back the third wave of Locust.

And Baird was right in that quite a few Grubs seemed to be focused on Nassar Embry's armor. Some to her surprise would trade up a chance to kill either her or the others for a shot at the founder of the COG's armor.

' _Then again, destroying something as iconic as Embry's armor is bound to affect moral a lot more than another few dead Gears'_ Bobbi thought as she brushed some dust and blood off her armor while Peter removed his helmet and rubbed the side of his head that was still hurting before he pulled his hand back to show blood on his glove.

This set off a few small alarms in Bobbi as she kneeled down next to him and examined the spot "How bad is it?"

"Well it won't stop throbbing" Peter said before he winced as Bobbi's finger brushed the area and pain raced across his skull "Got it from my friendly wrestling session with that Grub back in the main hall. The bits of flying debris from that Boomers Boomshot didn't help when it hit the spot too"

Bobbi frowned at the blood patch she could see growing on Peter's head "You need to get this looked at Peter, I don't need you collapsing on me in the middle of a fire fight"

"I've lasted this long, haven't I?" Peter said with a snort as he watched his last reaming squad mate wave Sofia over after she was done examining a bleeding bruise on Baird's cheek.

"What's wrong?" Sofia asked as she crouched down next to Peter as Bobbi stepped away to give her some space.

"Took a blow to the head earlier and now it's starting to bleed" Peter said as the red headed cadet took him by the chin and turned his head so she could get a better look at the spot "Corporal Morse thinks I need to see a doctor about it"

"And you might" Sofia said with a frown as she examined the injury "You could have possibly a fractured skull and you run the risk of getting a fragment wedged into your brain. If a bullet doesn't kill you, the internal bleeding from that will. My advice, avoid any more blows to the head if you can help it"

"So, it's not a giant Brumak armed with some laser canon that could do me in, but a smack to the head from a Drone?" Peter said with some disbelief before he let out a sigh "Could be worse I imagine, like I could get the Grub equivalent of the flu and my immune system can't fight it and I die in a puddle of mucus and throw up"

"Anything you can do?" Bobbi asked as she watched Sofia pulled out a few small things from her close to empty belt.

"Best I can do is try and stem the bleeding hopefully, but I'm a field medic, not a combat surgeon" the young woman said as she began to apply the last of her field dressing to the wound before she began to wrap a white bandage around Peter's head.

While this was happening, Paduk made his way over to the group cradling his Lancer "Good news, no damage to your god's armor"

"Excuse me?" Peter said with a frown of confusion.

Paduk threw his thumb towards the armor of Nassar "With how much you praise and revere him, in the UIR we joked how you seem him as some sort of god or prophet"

"That's…" Peter started only to frown "Not entirely inaccurate"

"Didn't they used to do the same with your alliance's founder?" Cole asked as he came to stand with the bunch while Baird was retrieving some ammo for his Lancer.

"Depended on which nation of the UIR you were from. Some were a bit more… fanatic about it than others" Paduk said before he frowned as that unknown roar echoed through the city outside.

"What the hell is that thing?" Bobbi asked as she glanced at the nighttime sky that was illuminated by the glow of fire and artillery fire. She could also make out what looked to be hundreds of Reavers flying through the sky, engaging and tearing apart the COG's Ravens and what few Petrel's were still flying.

What was once the most advance and powerful air force on the planet was getting brutally torn apart by a bunch of weird squid looking monsters from underground.

"Don't know, but whatever it is, it ain't leaving" Baird said as he tried to radio Control but frowned when all he got was static "Perfect, radio's out again which means Seeders or something else"

"Maybe they took a tower down or Control got hit?" Peter asked as Sofia had finished tying the bandage on his head and he slipped his helmet back on, it was a tight fit but he'd manage until he can get back to base and fix it, hopefully.

Before Baird could answer, the room shook again, this time to the point the gears still standing actually fell on to the floor as large sections of the ceiling came down in a few places, one of them the doorway the Locust have been pouring through and blocked it off and the windows that were still just barely intact shattered. Peter had to hold back a groan of pain as the person to fall on him was Cole, and the man was not light.

' _Why couldn't it be Bobbi, or Kilo's attractive red headed medic the fell on me? Why did it have to be the guy that's called 'The Cole Train?!'_ Peter mentally complained as Cole crawled off him and helped him back up just as something large moved passed the windows.

"What the hell is that…?" Sofia said as she saw what she first thought was a Corpser pass by the windows only she didn't see the extra legs or as many and something was on top of it, like it was riding it.

"That… is the end of Halvo Bay" Paduk said with a grim look thrown towards the monster as it lumbered about outside.

"Uh I think I found what's been making that creepy noise all night" Peter said as they watched the creature lumber out of sight followed by a painfully loud road that caused the humans to throw their hands over their ears.

Peter and Bobbi didn't have that sort of luxury and just simply bared through it and hope they didn't get lasting hearing damage. Peter let out a groan as he shook his head, trying to drown out that odd ringing sound you get when something incredibly loud goes off near your ear.

"I'm starting to see why some Onyx wear ear plugs under their helmets, god that hurt" Peter said as he shook his head more.

"Try not having a helmet" Baird said as he winced in pain

"What?" Cole said as he looked at the group "Am I deaf? I can't hear anything!"

"It'll pass…" Bobbi said as she removed her helmet and cleared her ear out to see if that would help.

It was then that everyone, minus Cole for the moment, heard Paduk bust out laughing like he was told the greatest joke on Sera. They are looked to see what caused the normally grim man to laugh and were met with the sight of Nassar Embry's armor display now crushed under several large chunks of the ceiling. Bits of the old armor and glass were scattered everywhere with the plaque that once identified the display facing up, covered in scratches and dents.

"All of that effort to keep it safe…" Baird gaped at the sight along with Sofia and Bobbi while Peter just looked at the pile for a moment before he shrugged.

"Well we technically kept the Grubs from destroying it. Gravity and half ton marble chunks however, much harder things to fight" Peter said as he crouched down and pulled up what was once part of Embry's shoulder pads "Also are we sure this is his armor? Just seems a little weird that it'd be here, far from Ephyra's museum or I don't know buried with the guy"

"No, it was his alright…" Baird said with a sigh before he looked around the room and "Come on, there's only one way out of here"

"Two actually" Paduk said as he gave the armor display a kick before he reloaded his Lancer "One involves dying"

Peter glanced at the man with a frown "Would it really hurt to be a little optimistic for once? Like instead of saying we're going to die, go for a more light hearted we'll make it?"

"Hmmm…" Paduk sounded as he tapped his chin before giving Peter a deadpanned stare "No, and it's always the jokesters that die first… and the most painfully"

"Just being in your presence is already killing me" Peter deadpanned.

"Come on guys, we have to get outside" Baird said as he gestured everyone to follow him to a doorway that led to the archives undeath the museum.

"I'm not picking up any radio transmission from out there" Bobbi said with a frown as she glanced back up at the shattered windows "I think… we're on our own"

"We'll know for sure when we can get out there" Baird said as he tried to push the doors open but found them barely budging from him alone "For fuck's sake… can someone help me with these damn things"

"Yeah…" Peter said as he tapped Cole's shoulder and the door went over to the doors and began to help Baird push them open while Sofia, Bobbi and Paduk kept an eye out for more Locust.

The amount of shooting had gone down drastically outside and given that the main hall was likely lost to the Grubs, chances are they'll have company soon enough. After several moments of banging against the old heavy-set doors, Peter, Cole and Baird were finally able to get them open and cautiously passed through them followed by Sofia and Bobbi while Paduk watched their six and before following after them and helped Peter and Baird close the doors just as it looked like dozens of Wretches began to pour through the now destroyed windows.

"Ugh, I hate hose things… they creep me out" Sofia said as she saw a brief glance of one of the Wretches as the door closed.

"Better than the Corpsers" Bobbi said as she repressed a shiver at the image of the large spider like creatures "All those legs…"

"That's normal" Peter said as he and Paduk secured the doors to make sure they couldn't be followed "The human mind is hardwired to be uneasy by something with more than two legs and scurries about. It's even worse when the thing with more than two legs is the size of a damn tank"

"Or a small house" Cole said as he used a finger to clear out one of his ears "Man, still got that ringing sound in my head"

"Least your starting to hear again" Peter said as he and Paduk stepped back from securing the door "There that should slow them down, so where to next?"

"The archives, we can get out through there" Baird said.

"You want to avoid the Locust, by going underground" Peter said with a dry look thrown towards the man "Need I remind you that these guys live, operate and own the underground"

"You gotta better idea mister COG elite, then let's hear it" Baird snapped at the man before Bobbi spoke up.

"Cut the chatter and let's go. I don't fancy dying in a museum" Bobbi said as she and the others began to make their way down the steps into the archives.

Peter and Baird watched her go before they both sighed and followed the veteran soldier. The trek down the steps was mostly silent as they kept their ears open for any signs that they weren't alone down there. After all, the underground was Locust territory and chances are the Locust have been tunneling into this place in attempt to possibly take the now dead COG defenders by surprise.

"So Paduk… what was that thing? You seem to recognize it" Cole said as he glanced at the scared man "Anything we should know?"

"Nothing that wasn't obvious" Paduk stated with a shrug "But I will say this, stay away from it or you'll end up dead even sooner"

"Oh… so it's no different from any other monster the Locust have. Okay" Peter said as he adjusted his grip on his Lancer "Nothing a run in with a gunship can't fix"

"My people thought the same thing… until it burned our nation to the ground" Paduk said as they reached the bottom of the stairs and ahead of them was a large mound that looked to be made of eggs…

"Uh what are those?" Sofia asked as they approached the strange looking eggs that seemed to be wrapped in some sort of web.

Peter neared the mound before he crouched down and examined it closer "Hmm…"

"Really, you see something unexplainable and your first thought is to walk right up to it and stick your face near it?" Bobbi said with a scowl of annoyance. While her own scientific mind was interested to see what these things were, she wasn't that interested to get an up-close view without a sheet of bulletproof glass between her and it.

"What?" Peter said as he poked the eggs with his Lancer's muzzle "Call me curious. Are these Grub eggs?"

"If they are, we should destroy them" Paduk said as he aimed his Lancer at them "Less Locust to worry about later on"

Peter turned his attention back to the man "Really Paduk? I know the COG used to say that Indies killed babies and ate them for breakfast but that doesn't mean you have to live up to the propaganda"

"If it were Grubs stumbling across human babies, they wouldn't hesitate" Paduk argued with a frown as he kept his rifle leveled at the eggs.

"Look Paduk, we don't even know what these things are to begin with and just shooting it because-" Peter stared only to be cut off as Baird fired several bullets into the egg sack with a blank face. The bullets seemed to cause some sort of chain reaction within the large sack and exploded for the lack of a better word with an odd glowing lime green like color pouring from it.

"Your right, we don't know what these things are but do you really want to risk them hatching and doing god knows what just because we didn't take the precaution of destroying them?" the blonde man said as he glanced at Peter who was silently staring at him.

"Peter, he's right" Bobbi said with a sigh as she looked around for more egg sacks and saw one at the far end "If there's a chance these are Locust eggs. Wheatear their Drones, Boomers, or for all we know Berserkers, we can't risk them hatching"

"Aren't we supposed to be better than them?" Peter asked in a low tone "More civilized?"

"This is civilized" Paduk said as he stepped on a lone intact egg before he continued down the hall followed by Cole, Baird and a reluctant Sofia, she didn't seem to onboard with apparent Grub infanticide like Peter was either.

Bobbi hung back and looked to see Peter looking at the destroyed egg sack. She didn't even flinch when she heard the former UIR major open fire on the other egg sack down the hall. She placed a hand on his shoulder "Come on Peter, we need to keep moving"

"We didn't have to destroy them" Peter said as he shouldered his Lancer and followed after Kilo squad who seemed to have found another egg sack in a room they entered based on the short burst of gunfire.

"Probably, but I hate to say it Peter, this is war" Bobbi said as she walked next to Peter while keeping an eye on the rafters above them, just in case whatever laid those eggs might be still around.

"Well then I'm wrong soldier to fight it. Still have a damn conscious…" Peter said as he and Bobbi entered the room to see that Kilo had just destroyed another cluster of eggs in a small hole that looked like it was an Emergence hole beforehand.

Bobbi glanced at Peter for a moment and was about to say something before they heard what sounded like a hiss followed by something scuttling along. The Gears readied their weapons as they scanned the room for signs of whatever was making that noise before suddenly Cole something in the doorway that caused him to nearly piss himself.

It was a massive ten-foot-long centipede like animal that rose up slightly and emitted what looked to be a form of bio-electric discharge from a number of small electrolytes in the pinchers before it made a loud hiss.

"Oh hell no, oh hell no! I don't do bugs!" Cole said as he and the others opened fire on the strange insect only to watch in complete surprise as the bullets bounced off the hissing centipede creature's armor like skin before it dove towards them.

"Look out!" Baird yelled as they scattered to avoid being caught in the monster's pinchers and either torn apart or electrified.

"What the hell is this thing? A Serapede? Because that that's bigger than anyone I've seen before!" Sofia yelled as she shot at the insect to try and keep it from getting close to her before she hopped on a large wooden cater that groaned under her weight and leaped over the hissing monster.

"If it is, I'm going to assume it's what laid these egg sacks!" Peter yelled as he shot at the insect's head to divert it's attention from Sofia "And it seems unhappy, gee I wonder why that is!"

"Yeah well now I have even more of a reason to destroy those things" Baird said as he tried to aim for the spaces between the Serapede's segmented sections. Maybe a shot into its more vulnerable flesh will get it to back off.

The monstrous Serapede seemed unaffected by Baird's attempts to hurt it as it continued to trail after Peter who was being forced back into a corner with only a few dirty blood-stained cots for protection.

"You know, this might be a little random but this is the first Locust related thing I've fought that actually could be considered a Grub" Peter said as he tried to shoot the insect in the eyes only for the armored like skin around its face to deflect the shots.

As Bobbi reloaded her Lancer she noticed that the Serapede's end piece was glowing a faint green color. Bobbi's eyes narrowed as she took aim at the glowing substance and fired off a small burst and was rewarded when some sort of chain reaction inside the Serapede's body caused the end to explode in a shower of the green substance and bits of it's steel like carapace.

The Serapede seemed to hiss in pain as it turned from Peter and began to move towards Bobbi who started to back away "Aim for the glowing end I just made!"

Peter, Sofia and Paduk saw what she meant and began to concentrate fire on the end and watched as every few bullets that hit it, another bit of the Serapede seemed to explode, shortening it further and further. So the ten foot long metallic like insect was reduced to only three feet and had slowed to a crawl towards Bobbi, lime green blood dripping from it's pincers as it tried to weakly raise it's head before Baird drew his side arm and fired off several shots into what was left of the glowing green mass at it's end and watched as the Serapede seemed to rupture into a shower of carapaces and entrails.

"Okay, that was nasty" Peter said as he wiped some of the blood off his helmet's lenses "Damn, what the hell did the Locust do to that thing to make it so big? Serapedes at best only ever grow six inches long!"

"Maybe a larger relative from underground?" Baird said as he crouched down to better examine the dead insects remains "Hmm, pretty combustible on the inside"

"So just shoot it in the ass and it'll explode?" Peter asked before he broke out into a laugh "Damn, that's the shittiest weakness I've ever heard"

Sofia chuckled sat that "Ah, I see what you did there"

"Imagine if you fed that thing something hot and spicy" Cole said before they all heard a louder hiss from sounded like an even larger Serapede "Oh hell…"

The humans' attention was drawn to something big and heavy moving through the ventilation system before a large section of it fell and the Gears were rewarded with the sight of a near sixteen-foot-long Serapede emerging from the debris and turning its head towards them and then did something no one expected.

It spat out a stream of acid!

"HOLY SHIT!" Peter yelled as he backed away and lost his footing just as a stream of the liquid flew over his head, a few drops landing on his chest armor and helmet and began to sizzle a little as the metal was being slowly eaten away.

"Shoot it!" Bobbi said as she and Sofia targeted the head to try and keep it from firing off another arc of acid while Baird, Cole and Paduk focused on the glowing end like they did for the last Serapede.

Sadly, this one seemed to be just a little smarter as it started to back away from the gears and quickly crawled into another room. Paduk and Cole chased after it while Baird checked on Peter who was busy using a piece of cloth he got from one of the cots to try and wipe the acid off. Thankfully it wasn't much and it didn't eat very much of his armor but there were a few patches of where the armor's paint had been melted off along with a few small little rice sized holes.

"Shit that stuff is strong" Peter said as he examined the damage.

"You're lucky you didn't get a face full of that shit" Bobbi said as she leaned in to better examine Peter's armor "Well that settles it, any egg sacks we see from now on, destroy them. Last thing we need is the Locust having an army of these damn things running around"

"I doubt all of the Serapedes are here" Peter stated with a frown.

"Yeah well a few taken out now is better than none" Bobbi said as she checked her ammo as Cole returned with a frown on his face. The blonde woman saw this and frowned as well "The Serapede?"

"Gone, through an emergence hole" Cole said. "But we did get a few more egg sacks, so I guess the tradeoff is sort of okay. Paduk stayed back to see if there were any more of those eggs"

"Would have been better to kill that thing" Baird said as he glanced at the Serapede they killed before the other one showed up "Doesn't matter how many egg clutches we destroy if there's still a mommy and daddy Serapede to lay more. Assuming they don't reproduce asexually in which case we'd be even more screwed"

"You know they may not even be affiliated with the Locust" Peter said as he glanced at Baird while gesturing towards what was left of the dead Serapede "Just because they come from underground doesn't mean it's automatically a Locust weapon or foot soldier. It could be up here because it and a few others passed by a Locust tunnel and followed it until it came up here and thought 'hey this seems like a nice place, little loud but we can make it work'"

"Yeah well with how hard it is just to kill one of them and how close it got to killing us, I say why give the Locust the option of weaponizing them?" Baird said as he gestured towards Peter's damaged armor.

Before Peter could reply he was cut off by the sound of Lancer fire further down the hall followed by Paduk's voice over the squad's short-range coms and even then, it was filled with bits of static "Found two more, I think that's about it down here"

"Let's keep moving, the way out of the archives are on the other side, along with hopefully some still living friendlies" Bobbi said as she gestured for the rest of Kilo to follow her as Paduk returned whipping some of the egg sack blood of his chest plate.

Peter glanced one more glance towards the dead Serapede before he followed after them. They entered a new room, this one filled with tall columns and rows of filing cabinets and drawers likely still filled with artifacts of historical significance. The lights, both main and emergency, were flickering and diming until only a handful remained on with every tremor that rocked the room from the conflict above and likely the Locust burrowing under the city and emerging nearby.

"God, I hope this place doesn't cave in on us" Sofia said as she casted a worried glance up towards the cracked ceiling.

"Yeah, I didn't bring my shovel" Peter said as his grip on his Lancer tightened before he saw something fast and low moving through the shadows "Uh guys, I don't think we're-"

Peter was cut off as an odd-looking Wretch suddenly appeared ahead of the group of humans. It was odd because it was glowing like some sort of fire was burning inside of it, like it drank a few gallons of unrefined raw Imulsion and now it was lit up like a Winter Solstice Tree.

"Oh hell no…" Bobbi said as she fired off a short burst from her Lancer into the now screaming Wretch and watched the bullets make their mark before the Locust canon fodder was suddenly engulfed in a small explosion that was a mix between its body parts and the Imulsion like substance within.

"Great, more exploding Wretches" Baird said as he and the rest of Kilo saw and heard more appearing. Likely attracted to the loud yell of the now dead Wretch and gunfire.

"The hell, are they filled with Imulsion or something?" Peter asked as he and Paduk covered Kilo's right flank from several glowing Wretches crawling down from holes in the cracked ceiling, just big enough for them to crawl through. Peter fired off a small burst and watched as one glowing Wretch exploded and caused a sort of chain reaction and took out three more around it.

They were like Tickers almost only bigger and arguably more dangerous.

"It looks like it, don't ask me how though" Baird said as he and Bobbi focused on the small pack running towards them from the front while Paduk and Sofia dealt with the Wretches attacking from the rear and left flank.

"At least they seem as dumb as the regular ones, easier to see too" Peter said as he kept firing until his rifle's clip emptied and he quickly drew his Snub Pistol and began to fire off round after round into the approaching volatile Locust cannon fodder. The Wretches didn't seem to be very smart like their non-glowing brethren but they seemed more aggressive somehow.

' _Still I am curious to know how the hell their glowing.'_ Peter thought as he scored a headshot in a glowing Wretch and watched it become engulfed in a small explosion that caused the others around it to scatter or risk getting caught in another chain reaction like earlier _'I mean are they a sub species that just happens to be luminescent or have the Locust found a way to weaponize Imulsion like we have over the years. Only this time instead of bombs or missiles, it's in their own shock troops'_

It didn't take long for Kilo to wipe out the Wretches, even an average Gear could hold his own against a small pack of them. Two Onyx Guardsmen and a squad of fairly experienced Gears, the Wretches would need to attack in far greater numbers to pose a real genuine threat or catch them on a bad day.

"On your right" Paduk said as he fired off a small burst passed Peter and nailed a head shot on a glowing Wretch that had somehow made it through Peter's bullet storm and was about to pounce on him before the former UIR major saw it.

Peter flinched as the Wretch exploded and some of its glowing Imulsion like blood landed on his armor "Thanks… I think. Man, that was a juicy one"

"You're lucky it didn't take you with it in its explosion" Paduk grumbled as he saw the last of the Wretches had either been killed or retreated, for now.

"I just know I'm going to be seeing these things in my dreams later" Bobbi commented as she crouched down near a still fairly intact Wretch to better examine it. Small fumes of Imulsion were leaking out of its body as it bled out glowing yellow tainted blood on to the floor.

"Come on" Baird said as he nodded towards the far end of the archive room "Grubs usually send these guys in first before they follow and I really don't want to have a massive fire fight with them when we're in a room that I swear us on its last legs"

As if the universe agreed with him, a large section of ceiling came down and landed on top of a small island of drawers and cabinets.

"I second that" Peter said as he stepped over a dead Wretch and for a brief moment wondered if the thing would just spontaneously combust and take out it his lower body. But the explosion never came and him and the rest of Kilo continued through the archives, this time on alert for both glowing Wretches as well as the Giant Serapede that was likely still lurking around down there.

They entered a small hallway that had a small stair case that led up into another room at the far end. As Kilo made it's way through, they saw something up ahead that caused them to pause. It looked like a dead Drone, but it was thinner and less armored. It also had some sort of rifle lying next to it with a large curved blade on the underside. Peter didn't know what it was until Paduk gasped in actual horror.

"What have they done to my Mazka?!" he said as he crouched down and lifted the UIR weapon as if it were a comrade and not just some piece of military equipment.

"Mazka, as in a sniper rifle?" Peter asked as he glanced at the weapon "Uh, isn't that supposed to have a scope on it?"

"A sniper rifle with no scope?" Cole said before he laughed "Ha, those Grubs are real geniuses"

Paduk stared at the weapon with a saddened expression before it darkened "They will pay for this perverse alteration my friend"

"Paduk, it's just a gun" Sofia stated with a confused look.

"This 'gun' has saved my life more times than I care to imagine. It is every bit a comrade as the men that would use her" Paduk said as he laid it back down with a sigh before standing up.

Baird meanwhile had his finger to his ear as he tried to radio control only to frown "Still no signal. Just bits of static and the occasional word"

"Could it be just us being underground?" Peter asked.

"Maybe, or whatever it is that is blocking the signal is still around up there" Baird said before they all felt a tremor and dust from the ceiling fell "My money is on it is"

"Then let's keep moving, we need to let Control know that there's something big out there" Bobbi said as she looked up the stairway with her Lancer at the ready before she cautiously moved up the narrow passage followed by Sofia, then Cole and Baird.

Peter glanced back at Paduk who was looking at the rifle with sadness before he shouldered his Lancer and followed after the rest of the squad. Peter watched him go before glancing down at the Mazka with a confused frown "It's just a gun…"

Minutes passed as Kilo made their way deeper and deeper into the archives until they reached the vaults. Dust began to fill the air until the humans could be see several meters in front of them.

"Damn, I can barely see ten feet in front of me" Sofia said as she began to cough from the amount of dust in the air "Shit I need a helmet or some sort of damn mask"

"Yeah…" Baird agreed as he let out a cough "I think I'll invest in a scarf or something after this" It was then the ground shook ever so slightly until it became a sort of miniature earthquake, causing the lights to dim even further until it was almost complete dark "Oh great…"

"So, we're underground in Locust occupied territory and now it's dark… whose bright idea was it to come down here again?" Peter asked with a groan.

"Hey, would you rather be stuck up there with dozens of wretches crawling up your ass?" Baird asked with a scowl.

"Hey at least I could see up there and the Wretches up there don't explode!" Peter fired back.

"Boys, your both pretty, now shut it" Bobbi said with growing annoyance as she scanned the area best she could. She really hoped she didn't see any more glowing Wretches, the normal ones were bad enough but there was something about the ones that glowed and exploded when they died that seemed unnerve her more than the Locust normally could. It was then that Bobbi saw movement in the dust cloud and it was far too large to be a human "CONTACT!"

No sooner did she scream that out, bullets began to fly through the air, forcing the humans to take cover or risk being filled with Hammerbrust rounds. Thankfully it seemed the dust was hindering the Locust as well since their rounds were bouncing all over the place. Several tense seconds passed as Kilo remained in cover, tense and ready to move before just as suddenly the bullet storm started, it ended. Peter risked a glance over his cover and scanned the dust filled area as best he could, hoping to pick out some movement but found none.

'Either their waiting for us to move, or they pulled out… probably the former' Peter thought as he hunkered back down and checked his ammo and Bayonet. The blade wouldn't do him well unless he got a soft spot like the eyes or mouth.

"So… now what?" Cole asked as he kept his head low which was a little difficult given how low the cover was and how large his body was.

"How good is everyone's close quarters combat?" Baird asked with a cough, having accidently inhaled some dust.

"This good" Paduk said as he loaded his Gnasher shotgun with a grim smirk.

"Top of my class" Bobbi murmured as she readied to move in case the Grubs tried to flank their position, the room seemed to be more than big enough to allow them to if given the chance.

"Baby, Thrashball is close quarters for me" Cole said with a grin that fell as suddenly a Grub, not a Kantus but what sounded like a Drone yelled out in the dust filled area "What the hell…?"

Peter looked back over his cover and saw multiple shapes rushing towards him and Kilo's position "Incoming Locust!"

Kilo rose up from their cover and prepared to open fire on the Locust but were momentarily taken back by several of the red armored Grubs breaking through the dust clouds, all armed with large cleaver like weapons.

"Great, the Locust Slasher division" Peter said as he opened up with his Lancer at the nearest Grub along with the rest of Kilo squad and Bobbi. Peter's eyes narrowed as he saw the Grub he was shooting fall from overlapping fields of fire from him and Bobbi before he turned to another charging Grub and aimed for its head and squeezed the trigger. Peter watched as it pushed through the gunfire, rounds penetrating it's armor and hide before it finally collapsed a few meters shy of the young Onyx Guard.

He didn't have time to reload as another armored Drone was behind that one and swung it's cleaver at him. Peter barely stepped back and brought his bayonet up in attempt to deflect the bade. His action was met with the cleaver slicing through his bayonet like it was aluminum. Peter gaped at this as he saw the red Drone gearing up for another swing before Bobbi leaped on to it from behind and brought it into a headlock. The Drone roared as it tried to rip Bobbi off it's back before Peter rammed into it, knocking all three over on to the ground as the sounds of gunfire from both Lancers and Hammerbursts echoed through the dust filled room.

Bobbi kept her grip on the Grub's head while Peter drew his knife and stabbed it right into the Grub's helmet covered head, right where the eyes should be. His arm jerked a bit from the amount of resistance the metal of the helmet put up but enough of the blade made it through to poke out the Grub's eye if it's roar of pain was anything to go by.

Bobbi tightened her grip on the Drone before she used every bit of strength she had and crushed the Drone's windpipe. The Drone went limp and Bobbi let out a groan as it's near crushing weight pushed her into the ground.

"Little help…" Bobbi said as she tried to push the grub off herself before Peter grabbed it by it's collar and yanked it off her with a grunt.

He reached down to help Bobbi up before another drone emerged from the dust, this one armed with a cleaver as well and swung it at Peter who had just been kicked away by Bobbi when she saw that Peter wouldn't be able to move in time. The Locust made blade just missed Peter by inches and the tip of it nicked the side of Bobbi's thigh as she moved her leg to the side or risk having it amputated. She gritted her teeth in pain as pain flared up from where she was cut before the Drone grabbed her by the neck and lifted her into the air and hissed at her face.

Bobbi glared back at it with a snarl "Yeah… fuck you too buddy…"

The drone looked like it was about to impale Bobbi with it's cleaver before Peter suddenly appeared and stabbed it in the foot with a Cleaver he found on the ground. The armored Grub roared in pain as it dropped Bobbi in reflex and moved to attack Peter before it's head was severed from its body by a swing from Peter's own cleaver. The blade tore through the red armor like butter and a small geyser of blood erupted from the now bisected neck.

"Heh, looks like you need to get a head in life" Peter said as he watched the headless drone's body slump to the ground.

"Really…" Bobbi coughed out as she stood up "A head in life. God can you be any more cliché?"

"Hey, the rules of war clearly state that if you ever do something to an enemy that results in them losing their head, you have to make a joke about it" Peter said as the sounds of gunfire stopped and Baird's voice echoed through the room.

"Status?"

"I'm good…" Cole said from somewhere in the room before he let out a horse cough "Shit… I think I just hacked up my lung with that one"

"Clear on this end" Sofia said, her voice slightly muffled, it sounded like she was covering her mouth with something.

"The last of these red drones and a Boomer with a cleaver are dead here" Paduk replied, his voice sounding the furthest away from the group.

"We're good!" Peter shouted out as he examined the cleaver in his hand while Bobbi retrieved her Lancer "Also, I got a new knife!"

"Well good for you" Baird said before he let out another cough "Come on, let's get the hell out of here before we catch some kind of respiratory infection"

"Wouldn't have to worry about it if you had helmets" Peter mumbled as he attached the cleaver to his armor's magnetic clamps on his back before he and Bobbi made their way through the dust filled vaults, their weapons at the ready for any more Locust.

Several moments passed before they all heard a low rumbling sound followed by a small tremor. Peter's grip on his Lancer tightened as he struggled to see through the dust cloud. He was just passing by a chunk of rock before he heard something scrap against the ground. He turned just in time to use his Lancer to block a leaping Wretch from taking his head off.

"Whoa!" Peter yelled as he shoved the little rabid animal off his rifle before he fired off a three-round burst into its head. The Wretch's head snapped back as half its upper head was blown off and it collapsed to the ground in a huff.

"What was that?" Baird's voice echoed through the room, it sounded like he was a few meters ahead.

"Wretch, which means more are nearby" Peter replied as he scanned his surroundings best he could along with Bobbi.

"Please don't be more of those exploding ones…" Bobbi said as she steadied her breathing.

"Any idea on why their like that?" Peter asked as he and Bobbi kept close to each other as they slowly made their way to the far end. They could make out what looked like Paduk a few meters away to their right. Sofia, Cole and Baird were likely further ahead.

"No idea, but I would like to know how the hell it is their filled with Imulsion" Bobbi said as she watched the ceiling for the little bastards, they really liked to climb "Maybe the Locust are a lot better at biological warfare and genetic engineering then we already give them credit for"

"Either that… or something else" Peter said before he picked up some fait growling to his and Bobbi's left and looked to see something just duck under a knocked over table "Contact left"

Paduk stopped and turned his Lancer to the spot Peter spotted a Wretch take cover behind before he suddenly turned to open fire on a Wretch that snuck up behind him "Contact right!"

"Same up here!" Cole yelled as he, Sofia and Baird's Lancers could be heard firing up ahead of the three followed by the loud echoing wails of the Wretches.

"We're surrounded" Bobbi said as she saw multiple Wretches pour out pf the dust cloud and fired off small controlled burst to keep them back.

Peter heard something scurrying above him and looked to see four Wretches crawling above him, Bobbi and Paduk like malevolent monkeys. He raised his weapon and fired, scoring a hit on one and caused it to fall to the ground without a sound while the other three scattered into the dust cloud around them.

Peter dragged his attention back to the Wretches on the ground and saw most of them near Bobbi and Paduk were already dead. Wretches weren't the most powerful creatures in the Locust war machine, not by a longshot but their numbers could pose a rea threat if you found yourself low on ammo or boxed in, which they almost were.

Minutes passed as the sounds of Lancer fire and Wretches screaming and dying filtered through Peter's ears like a constant hum. He could make out the muzzle flashed of the rest of Kilo as he, Paduk, and Bobbi slowly regrouped with them. The Wretches kept pouring out of the dust like twisted specters, each eager to get their jaws around human flesh but instead found their gullets filled with lead.

And then suddenly they stopped coming. Either because Kilo had killed them all or they Wretches learned that they'd end up massacred if they kept this up. While they were no Otto Octavius, Peter's noticed that they had some semblance of intelligence.

"Clear!" Baird said as he scanned the area with narrowed eyes, he had to resist the urge to wipe the bits of dust near them in case a Wretch used that moment to attack him.

"For now" Paduk hummed as he gave a dead Wretch a hard kick in the face either to make sure it was dead or because he felt like it.

"Can we go now please?" Peter asked as he could just make out the faint grunts and hisses of more Wretches in there, somewhere.

"Yeah, we're low on ammo and I don't fancy fighting a entire pack of Wretches in these conditions" Bobbi said as she searched for a way out but saw the doorway was blocked with debris. She was about to comment on this before suddenly a large chunk of the wall collapsed to reveal several drones that paused in mid step.

It looked like they weren't expecting to see humans down here and before they could act, Kilo opened fire on the group. One of the drones managed to get a few shots off that almost hit Cole before it collapsed to the ground, it's arm hanging by a few threads of flesh as it's entire body was nearly torn apart from the number of bullets tearing into it and the others from the humans.

"Now it's clear and look at that, the Grubs were nice enough to make us an exit out of here" Peter commented as he reloaded and followed after the rest of Kilo.

"Stay alert, there could be more behind these guys coming our way" Baird warned them all as they passed through the hole and into a much clearer hallway with a staircase at the end that looked to lead back up into the Museum proper. Peter made to follow before he heard the sounds of Wretches behind him followed by sounds of what sounded like a rabid fight between them.

Peter paused and looked back and just faintly made out what looked to be several of the glowing Wretches making their way inside the dust cloud.

' _The hell…are they fighting each other in there?'_ Peter thought in puzzlement before he felt someone tap his shoulder and looked to see it was Bobbi.

She nodded in Kilo's direction "Come on, let's get the hell out of here…"

Peter nodded before he casted one more look back inside before following after her, the sounds of what appeared to be Wretches fighting the glowing ones still in his mind.

"Whew… glad to be out of there" Cole said as he wiped some sweat and dust off his head as they made it to the top of the blood-stained staircase "So, what's next?"

"Well, we call in Control and let them know what's going on since it sounds like whatever's been blocking our coms has moved on" Baird stated as they entered a hallway that was littered with numerous Onyx Guard corpses and a few Locust Drones. There was a small fire at the end that illuminated the human and grub blood underneath the soldier's boots "Kilo to control, I need Loomis"

Not a second later, Loomis's impatient voice echoed through the squad's com link _"What is it Lieutenant?"_

"Uhh Colonel, some Grub riding a monster just wiped out almost every rifle at the museum. Request guidance" Baird said as he and the rest looked up to see numerous Drones and Boomers marching around outside, moving in to secure the museum.

" _Kill the Grub. Hold the museum"_ Loomis responded as if it were the simplest thing to do.

Peter frowned at this as he prepared to enter the conversation when Paduk beat him to it with a troubled expression on his face "Colonel, Paduk here. This Grub, in Gorasnaya, they called him Karn"

" _This isn't Gorasnaya"_ Loomis said with some contempt leaking into his voice. Peter from what he could gather, heard that Loomis was very much against the Open arms program the COG initiated that saw former Indie troops being brought into the army to help replace the staggering casualties they've suffered since the war began only a few months ago.

"My army threw all we had at him" Paduk said with growing annoyance and anger.

It was then that Peter entered the conversation as a thought came to him when Paduk said 'everything they had' "Sir, Private Parker. What about the Lightmass missile at Onyx Point?"

Loomis was silent for several long moments before speaking in a tone that was crossed between anger and some barely present if not outright absent relief that Peter was still breathing. Not because the man liked Peter, but because it meant there was, in Loomis's mind still a semi-competent soldier still standing to follow orders _"Son, leave the strategy to men with bars. I don't want to hear another word until Paduk's boogeyman is dead and I can order an ice cream from the goddammed food court-"_

The signal was suddenly lost as another tremor racked through the area and Kilo looked up outside to see even more Grubs than earlier arriving, along with what appeared to be Karn himself sitting on top of a massive spider like creature as it's legs trampled on the bodies of dead or dying Gears and Onyx Guardsmen and women. Karn looked different compared to other Drones, he was thinner, lacking the same amount of muscle as the rest and his armor was more decorated but not to the point it affected combat effectiveness.

Karn let out a light raspy like roar as the spider like creature it was riding on moved forward until it was out of sight, leaving Kilo to see only Wretches starting to tear their way into the corpses, blood splattering everywhere as they ripped into the still warm flesh.

"So, how's that missile work?" Cole asked as he glanced at Peter who was about to answer before Sofia beat him to it, seriously what was with everyone interrupting him?

"That's classified" she said before she let out a sigh "But the inventor worked at the Academy"

"Professor Elliot" Bobbi said as she stared out the window still to see more and more Grubs showing up. There had to be hundreds if not more out there right now as Karn disappeared from her sight.

"Elliot?" Baird said with slight surprise "Huh, I used to work in his lab at LaCroix before he went military"

Peter nodded at that "His work was based on the weapons delivery system and his theories in regard to somehow weaponizing the Lightmass process. Meaning the missile draws its power from refined Imulsion. The more Imulsion, the bigger the boom"

Paduk made a sound of anger and disgust as he gestured to the burns on his face "Courtesy of your big boom"

"How close were you to the impact point?" Cole asked carefully.

"Close enough. That thing would burn up this entire city" Paduk said.

"I doubt it, the one at Onyx Point is low yield. Slated for urban warfare meaning it's powerful but at worse it'll level a few dozen city blocks instead of the entire area like what Paduk is referring to. It kind of became obsolete after the Hammer of Dawn came online" Peter said as he glanced at the group who stared at him in surprise "What?"

"They probably want to know how you know so much about a highly classified missile and its inner workings" Bobbi said as she glanced at Peter with her own hidden look that stated she wanted to know as well. Even she wasn't aware of such a weapon being kept in Halvo Bay and she had more clearance then Peter did.

"Oh, I uh…" Peter tried to think of something to say because the truth could very well get him court marshalled.

' _What am I supposed to say? That I got bored at Onyx Point and decided to maybe sort of poke around its system until I accidently stumbled across it?'_ Peter thought with a slightly embarrassed face. Thank god for full headed helmets.

"I knew one of the technicians that worked on it and he liked to talk…" Peter lied… badly.

It was clear to everyone there that he was, Baird seemed to know how it is Peter may have found out and found it funny, Paduk and Cole too. Sofia looked unsettled and Bobbi, well he could tell she was going to have words with him first chance she got when they were alone. It wouldn't do for Kilo to see her chew Peter out about hacking into classified terminals and poking around without permission or clearance.

"So, we just head on over to Onyx Point and set it for here? Sounds easy enough" Baird said with a nod.

"Actually, we need the targeting beacon for that. We also need the launch codes, personally activate the missile on sight and get this all approved by command" Sofia said as she shifted her weight on her feet.

"How do you know this?" Peter asked with surprised, he didn't know you needed a beacon to launch the thing.

"I used to uh… I um, worked, with Professor Elliot when he taught at the Academy" Sofia coughed, a blush just barely seen by the others on her dirtied, bloodstained face.

Paduk hummed at that as he placed a finger to his ear "Control, Kilo here. So, we're going to use the Lightmass missile to kill General Karn, any objections?"

The squad's radio was met with static as the Seeders had apparently jammed the frequencies again. Peter couldn't help but shrug "I didn't hear a no…"

Baird shook his head "Good enough for me"

"Come on cadet, you're going back to the academy, that's an order" Bobbi said as she began to walk down the hall.

Baird followed after her along with Cole and Paduk, leaving Peter to glance at Sofia's uncertainty. He gave her a pat on the shoulder to help cheer up the by the book solider.

"Hey, Loomis did tell us to kill the Grub. We're just going to be going about it in a less… traditional way. So, we're not technically disobeying orders plus chances are we're going to use the thing before this battle is over anyhow. Might as well use it to take out the leading Grub of this assault. Cutting off the head of the snake and all that" Peter said as he followed after the rest of Kilo.

Sofia watched him go before she let out a sigh and followed after them with a light jog, unaware that she was just seconds away from having her head blown off by a larger than average Skirmisher stationed on a rooftop overlooking the Plaza that Karn was occupying with over a thousand Drones and dozens of Boomers almost two hundred meters away.

The Skirmisher stood out from others given it was clad in black metal plating torso, arms and legs with a helmet that covered it's face but had what looked like some sort of fanged mouth engraved on the helm where it's mouth should be. The Grub lowered the Longshot it acquired from a long dead Gear and hissed as it glanced down at Karn to see he was occupied by a Theron Guard giving him a status update on the Locust assault on the ground walker's city.

It made a grunting sound before looking back at where it saw the humans for several moments in thought before it came to a decision and grinned in a savage display of pointed teeth.

It was going hunting.

…

* * *

And done.

Next chapter, Kilo squad launches a raid on the Academy in hopes of finding the beacon for the Lightmass missile.


	6. Chapter 6

Answers to reviewers' questions or statements

 **HaywireEagle** : Uh no Kantus were seen before Operational Hollow Storm. Battle of Halvo Bay, the Evacuation of llima City, the second battle of Jilane which took place months before with Baird saying the Locust attacking them was being led either by a Theron Guard or KANTUS. He wouldn't be saying that unless the COG encountered the Kantus before.

 **Guest** : Nah I won't be killing off Bobbi, that'd be too cruel. Also, I'm sure there are some good Gears of War crossover stories.

 **Justafan** : No Sofia apparently dies years later off screen and even then, it's not certain.

 **Yorhart Meltz** : It's to show that Peter isn't some blood thirsty guy and that he has a sort of moral code. To him, shooting full grown Locust is one thing, but shooting defenseless and even innocent babies, even though it turns out they weren't Grub eggs in the end, that's just unethical to him. Odd yeah, especially in this war but that'll change as time goes on and he becomes 'harder' and more 'brutal'.

 **Dr Sugarcakes** : I've toyed with the idea of something like that but the COG would never let Peter keep a et Corpser, be funny for him to ask for one though.

 **KasugaRomio** : It would have been either him or Bobbi that mentioned it because I find it a little hard to believe that Professor Elliot would just tell a cadet like Sofia something like where the missile is and what it can do specifically, regardless if he's sleeping with her. The court martial will be a little tricky to handle and I'm for warning you it might be bad, but I'm going to go for a sort of feeling of disappointment and betrayal with Loomis in regards to Peter and Bobbi. Vampires, clean? There ain't nothing clean about them but I know what you mean and I have been entertaining the idea since it was first dropped. The issue will be trying to incorporate Peter into this world. I've toyed with the idea that the Vampires in their war against the Lycans (Werewolves) they began to experiment on others, maybe even using animal DNA to give them a better chance against their physically superior opponents.

 **Esquire-man** : Yeah, plus I did it for a bit of dark comedic relief.

 **henchman213** : Nah, for the most part Loomis is a dick. True he'd be the last man to walk off a battlefield and will fight to the death with his men when it comes down to it, but he's a bit of a dick. Still he'll change as the story goes on as I'm going to be keeping him around.

 **Cyclopz** : As this story goes on, we'll be seeing just how short end of a stick the civilians get when it comes to this war. After seeing that comment, and I sometimes wonder if it was just a sarcastic remark, I've been toying with the idea of a Spider-man in the Underworld universe. The issue is choosing which side he'd be on in that story. Lycans (Werewolves) and vampires share a number of his powers like enhance speed, strength, can stick to walls, and the like.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or Gears of War characters seen, mentioned or used

* * *

"Okay it's official… we're in the shit" Peter said as he and the rest of the squad trudged through an old sewer line to reach the Academy. The tunnel was mostly dark with the only sources of lights being from their armor's lights and the occasional hole in the ceiling that led up to the streets above or the odd manhole cover that was missing. "I mean I think I can safely say our situation stinks"

"Peter, I swear to god if you make another joke about where we are, I'll hit you" Bobbi growled in annoyance as she had to steady her footing or risk falling face first into the knee-deep sewage.

"Aww…" Peter pouted at her back before glancing at Baird who had his hand over his nose "But Lieutenant, you have to agree that we're in deep right?"

"I've walked through worse" Paduk said as he looked down to see a dead rat floating in the murky waters "Smelled worse"

"I don't think I want to know" Peter said with a shiver as he glanced up at a manhole they were passing by, small pillars of light leaking through the holes in it and into the water below "You wonder if this is what the Locust feel like in their tunnels? Baring the sewage, I mean. You know walking by and hearing us up there"

"Maybe" Cole said before he chuckled at a thought "Heh, must sound like an earthquake every time they went near a stadium"

"Or when we set off explosives for either construction or demolition" Sofia said before a thought came to her "How the hell did we miss them after all these years? I mean how could all of those geologists over the years miss a civilization like this lurking right under our very noses?"

"Well to be fair we had no reason to look for another civilization underground" Peter said as he glanced behind them, he swore he just heard something moving through the water, like footsteps, but he chalked it to debris falling into the water "Besides we had this little thing called the Pendulum Wars going on. Seeing what's under Sera's crust doesn't sound all that important when a near eighty-year long war is going on"

"Yeah but what about all the times the COG or the UIR were digging through minds for ores or looking for Imulsion?" Sofia questioned with a frown.

Peter shrugged "Maybe they did stumble across them and it was classified or maybe the Locust are a lot deeper in the hollows then we know"

"Plus, they could have had years practicing hiding from others. I mean if they share the same living space as Brumaks, Corpsers, and those giant Serapedes that all probably want to eat them, hiding from a bunch of humans that aren't focused on looking for them or even know they're there sounds easy enough" Baird commented before he spoke up towards Bobbi "How much farther anyway?"

"We just passed under Enfield avenue, so we should be able to get out up ahead" Bobbi said as she gestured to some writing on the wall that displayed their location or at least which junction they were at.

"Finally…" Peter said before he suddenly lost his footing and fell face first into the sewage. He suddenly tasted the water which was possibly the most bitter, foul tasting thig he's ever had in his mouth and before he could think, he pushed himself up and tire his helmet off just as he vomited into the ripple filled waters "Oh god…"

Cole gave him a pat on the back as he helped him up "Whoo boy… I think someone's going to need a shower or ten when we get back to base"

"Well he's riding next to you because I don't want to smell shit all the way back" Paduk said with a frown as he and the rest of Kilo watched Peter let out another stream of vomit.

"This… this never leaves the sewer" Peter coughed as he tried to spit the taste of piss and shit out of his mouth and saw that clumps of waste were now on his chest plate. He had to resist the urge to puke again as he brushed it off best he could.

Bobbi who helped brush some of the waste off his chest plate couldn't help but grunt under her helmet "You know Parker… you can be pretty shitty at times"

"Oh blow me…" Peter groaned as he emptied some of the water out of his helmet before he slapped it back on with a grunt.

Bobbi chuckled as they continued through the sewer line until they came to a manhole at the very end. Baird slowly crawled up the ladder to give the topside a peek while the rest stayed below and watched the darkened tunnels for signs of Locust. It was a bit odd they didn't encounter any down here but none were willing to take the chance of lowering their guard.

"It's clear, well clear of bad guys at least…" Baird said as he looked back down at them.

"You heard him, up the ladder" Bobbi said before Paduk went up followed by Sofia, then Peter and finally Cole. She prepared to climb up herself before she heard something in the darkness and immediately turned with her Lancer at the ready.

She saw nothing and no Hammerburst erupted in the confined space. Her eyes narrowed as she scanned the shadows for several more moments before she holstered her rifle and quickly climbed up the ladder and towards the surface. Had she been equipped with a flashlight, she would have noticed an armored skirmisher with a Longshot crouching in the darkness only a few meters away.

"You okay?" Peter asked as he held his hand out for Bobbi to take and pull her up.

"Thought I heard something down there" Bobbi said as she glanced back down the manhole after being pulled out with a frown "Could have been rats…"

"Or a grub" Peter pointed out as he glanced down there too before he checked his belt for something "Shame I'm out of grenades. Could have dropped one down there just to be sure"

"Yeah… shame" Bobbi said as she kicked the cover back on and turned to seeKilo moving down the alleyway "Rude…"

"I know, so inpatient" Peter said as they followed after them. It was daylight as the battle for Halvo Bay entered its fourth day. The early morning air was filled with smoke and AA fire along with the occasianol explosion, be it Reaver or Raven. The last of the Pestals were wiped out last night leaving only the COG famous helicopters to provide support today.

"Still think we have a chance of winning this battle?" Bobbi asked as the squad slowly made it's way down an alley way with small stores on each side either boarded up or riddled with bullet holes. The ground was covered in Lancer and Hammerburst casings along with large amounts of blood, both human and Grub.

"At this point, not really" Peter said as he scanned what was once a book store that was now on fire, smoke billowing out and into the humid air outside "The best we can do now is kill the Locust big shot and hope it'll slow them down for a while"

"Assuming he's not replaced almost instantly" Bobbi said.

"Nah, they can't replace a guy like that so soon. If what half of what Paduk said is true, he's like one of the Locust top brass. Taking him out is bound to create a vacuum that others will be clamoring to fill" Peter said.

"Let's hope that clamoring leads to a civil war, give us some breathing room" Bobbi said as they neared a large gate with the doors closed.

Cole gave it a hard shove and the green faded doors gave a little but remained steadfast. Peter shoulder his rifle along with Paduk as all three put their weight into it. This time the doors snapped of their hinges and clamored to the ground as a visibly damaged Raven passed over them with two Reavers in hot pursuit and gave Kilo a perfect view of what was once the training grounds for the Onyx Guard…

Or what was left of it.

"Damn… they hit this place hard" Peter commented as he took in the damage to the academy. Parts of the campus were on fire or were collapsing from being shelled to the point of dust by either Locust artillery or the COG's when it was clear the school was lost to them.

"Well this is where the Onyx train, only makes sense you destroy as much as you can" Bobbi said as she saw several Reavers land in a courtyard. "Let's hope the cadets that were still here and the rest of the staff put up a hell of a fight cause I'm almost out of ammo"

"Me too…" Sofia checked her Lancer "Down to half a clip in the rifle and three full magazines in my snub Pistol"

"I'm out of ammo completely" Paduk said with a sigh as he stared down at his weapon "Good thing it's heavy… I can always beat the Locust to death with it"

"Won't you have to get close to them?" Cole asked with confusion.

"Yes… I will" Paduk smiled grimly.

"I swear you're a serial killer in the making" Peter deadpanned.

"I'm a soldier, I'm a government trained, fed and equipped serial killer" Paduk said with a shrug as the squad made it's way down a small stair case that would take them down to a small road that would lead to a bridge that connected to the Locust occupied Academy.

It didn't take long for the squad to reach the bridge before they hunkered down and scouted out the enemy's fortifications. Safe to say, Kilo was really wishing they had more ammo with them.

"Man, bunch of troops with little cover and in such a condensed space, this place is like heaven for a sniper" Peter commented as he used Bobbi's field glasses to scan the Locust on the bridge.

"Shame we don't have One-shots" Baird said as he stood next to him with his own larger field glasses "Could take multiple Grubs out in one hit"

"Can you see anything else besides Drones out there?" Cole asked with a frown as he and Sofia kept a careful watch on the street behind them for any possible Locust approaching to either re-enforce the detachment still in the Academy or just passing through and making sure every human in this sector was dead.

"There's a chain gun halfway up the bridge" Baird commented as he zeroed in on the turret "And if what I'm seeing is right, several more at the far end by the building's entrance"

"Lots of Reavers flying around too" Peter said as he gazed up at the sky "We'll be sitting ducks out there if they spot us. Turret pins us down while Reavers come in and bombard us"

"Anyway, to get across the river that doesn't involve a possible one way suicide trip?" Bobbi asked with a frown as Peter handed her the field glasses back.

Peter shook his head "Nah, the nearest crossing is about half a kilometer-" he threw a thumb over his shoulder towards the east "-In that direction and there's no telling how much more fortified that place is compared to this"

"Assuming there's still a crossing there. The COG or Locust could have destroyed it by now" Paduk commented with a frown.

"Shit…" Cole said as he shook his head before looking around "So either way, we're possibly fucked?"

"Looks like it" Baird said with a sigh as he sat down behind the cover and rubbed his brow "You know, being an officer is a lot harder than I thought"

"How?" Bobbi asked as she glanced at the blonde.

"Uh…" Baird tried to think up an answer that didn't sound like an insult before Peter spared him the possible embarrassment.

"Well officers are more often than not expected to have all of the answers based on what the Grunts gather from being in the field or from higher up. Given we're on our own now and You and Baird only have me, Sofia, Cole and Paduk here, things get a lot harder" Peter said as he adjusted the captured cleaver on his back.

Bobbi hummed at this as she went back to scouting out the defenses on the bridge while the rest of the squad went through what very limited ammo they had left. They never had a chance to resupply after leaving the museum.

"Okay, so between all of us, me, Cole and Baird are the only ones with a single full clip left. Sofia has only half a clip and a few full mags for her sidearm, Paduk is out completely and all Bobbi has is six rounds in her rifle and maybe a single bullet in her side arm as well"

"Two actually" Bobbi said as she sat back down and let out a tired sigh "One for me and you"

"What about the rest of us?" Baird asked with a frown.

"Get your own damn rounds to off yourselves with if it looks like you're going to be captured by the Grubs" Bobbi said as he pulled her helmet off and almost gagged as the smell coming off Peter's armor hit her full force.

"Do the Grubs even take prisoners?" Sofia sked with dread.

"Something tells me that if they do, it won't be much better than death" Cole said as he glanced at the bridge.

"Your wrong… it'll be worse" Paduk said grimly and no one could fault him for it, after all the Locust were brutal when they killed you, god knows what they do to you if they decide to capture you instead.

"Okay as much as I like to sit here talking about how we're each saving a bullet for ourselves if it looks like we'll be captured and theorize what the Locust do to POW's, with still have a beacon to acquire" Baird said as he rested a hand on his knee.

"Well then, how do we get in?" Peter nodded back towards the bridge.

Baird looked back with narrowed eyes as he used his field glasses to zero in on the turret. It was lightly defended and most of the Locust had pulled back to the other side of the bridge in front of the Academy. He also saw that the turret would have a clear line of sight and the two on the other end of the bridge didn't have a clear shot of it's location.

"Hmm… I have an idea. It's risky and likely going to get us killed but it's all I got at the moment" the blonde officer said.

"What is it?" Cole asked.

Baird pointed to the turret "Take the turret, clear the bridge before moving on up to deal with the rest of the Locust outside the campus entrance"

"What about the Locust on the bridge?" Peter asked with a frown "Need I remind you we're low on ammo? And even if there are still bodies of Gears or Onyx on there, the Locust probably cleaned them by now"

"It looks like most of the Grubs are gathering by the entrance, if we can get to the turret before they can we'll be able to mow them down. The turrets on the other side of the bridge won't be able to provide cover fire" Baird said.

"And the Reavers?" Paduk pointed up towards the clear blue sky that was filled with several dozen Reavers that looked more like insects given their altitude.

"Use the turret" Baird replied.

Everyone soon grew quiet for a few minutes before Peter sighed "Fuck it… by the time we find a better route, this city will be ash anyhow"

"Alright, let's move" Baird said as he got up along with the rest of the squad "Just keep low and don't stop moving and we'll have that turret under our control before the Locust can cross the bridge and provide support"

"If you say so" Sofia said uneasily as she took several deep breaths to calm herself for the charge up the bridge.

"Hey, Loomis himself promoted me to Lieutenant, he wouldn't have done it unless he was confident in my abilities" Baird boasted.

"Or he was desperate, I mean he let me into the Onyx Guard of all places for crying out loud" Peter said with a snort of amusement.

"That's because you use your brain more often than your muscles Peter" Bobbi said as she and Peter along with Cole moved down the left side of the bridge, keeping their heads low while Baird, Sofia and Paduk moved on the right.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure he was just trying to meet his quota" Peter snorted as one of the Grubs passing the turret noticed the approaching humans through the smoke and fortifications and roared in alarm "Well, their goes stealth"

"Move it Kilo!" Bobbi shouted as they broke into a sprint as one of the Drones made it's way to the turret while the rest opened fire on the humans with their Hammerbursts or Gnasher shotguns.

Peter was just about two thirds of the way to the turret when he accidently tripped on what was left of an Onyx Guard's corpse. Bobbi didn't stop moving as she leaned in and with a combination of her own upper body strength and sheer adrenaline, she grabbed Peter's armor by the scruff and dragged him out of the line of fire behind a small mound of sandbags while Cole crouched next to them and fired off several rounds to keep the advancing Grubs back.

"You okay?" Bobbi asked.

Peter nodded "Yeah, I'm find. Though I cant help but feel like I'm going to hell for tripping over that guy's body back there"

"Honestly Peter, I think another Onyx Guard tripping on his corpse was the least disrespectful thing done to it today" Bobbi commented as she saw Sofia score a headshot with her Snub Pistol on the Drone manning the turret.

The amount of firepower on her, Peter and Cole's position dropped significantly and allowed the trio of humans to push further up the bridge until they were in the center as well. Baird and Paduk had already used what little ammunition they had left on the Locust that were occupying the bridge center while Sofia made her way to the turret and turned it towards the advancing platoon of Grubs rushing in from the academy.

"Okay cadet, let'm have it!" Baird said and watched as Sofia opened up on the wave of Grubs with a steady stream of high caliber bullets.

While she was keeping the advancing Grubs back, Peter, Cole and Paduk used this moment to see if there was any ammo left to scavenge from the small outpost they acquired. Aside from a few Lancer clips from the dead Onyx Guards and the odd Gear or two, there was very little to go around.

"Well this sucks" Peter lamented as he slapped a single fresh clip into his Lancer.

"Hopefully there's more ammo inside, because if there ain't, we're gonna have to use some of the Grubs" Cole said as he looked to see that Sofia had mowed down half the Locust already and what few were still standing were retreating back to the far end of the bridge they still occupied "Damn… someone's enjoying herself"

Peter followed Cole's gaze and saw that Sofia had an excited expression on her face as she tore a poor Grub's upper torso to pieces with several bursts from the turret. He could help but shake his head in amusement.

"Yeah, it's always the quiet ones"

"I hear that" Cole chuckled before he looked over Peter's shoulder and paled "Aw shit…"

Peter looked to see what had Cole freaking out and gaped at what he saw.

Over a dozen Reavers were in bound for what looked like a bombing run of sorts. Bobbi saw this as well and slapped Sofia on the shoulder and nearly yelled into her ear as the red head continued to pin down the Locust.

"Left side, up high!"

Sofia looked to see what Bobbi saw and noticed the incoming Reavers. She turned the turret to the left and lined up her sights before she squeezed the trigger. The turret rattled as the bullets tore through the air at the approaching Reavers, forcing them to scatter as the bullets began to tear into their hides. A few lucky shots knocked a Grub or two off one of the Reavers.

"Nice shot" Peter said as he and Cole fired off small controlled burst at the Revaers as they flew overhead.

"Thanks!" Sofia said as she centered her sights on one Reaver and kept firing in short bursts until finally she heard it give out a sort of death cry as it fell to the water only to blow up just meters above the surface.

It was then that Baird spoke up "Incoming!"

The reason for his warning came in the form of a Reaver suddenly landing on the bridge, just a few meters away from the small defensible outpost. The squid like creature let out a roar as the Grub controlling it fired off a rocket towards Sofia. The red head let out a curse as she abandoned the weapon and took cover behind a small pile of blood stained sandbags as the gun emplacement went up in a shower of fire and shrapnel as the ammo belt was ignited and promptly exploded as well.

Peter winced as he felt one of the bits of metal, ether from the turret itself or the ammo belt, hit him in the calf as he ducked behind some sandbags as the rear pilot of the Reaver shot at him and Cole with a Hammerburst. Peter made to return fire with his Lancer when his hand brushed against the hilt of his cleaver.

' _Well… I am low on ammo… and the legs aren't that thick'_ Peter thought as he looked from behind his cover to see that another Reaver had landed on the bridge, this one just a few meters away from the other and seemed to be trying to get to Bobbi, Baird and Sofia. Paduk was nowhere to be seen, much to Peter's concern.

It was then he felt someone tap him on the shoulder and he looked to see it was Paduk himself and under his arm what the last ammo box for the now destroyed turret. The older man nodded torwads one of the Reavers as he held the ammo box up with a grin.

"I still think we can get some use out of this yes?"

Peter glanced at the man before looking towards the distracted Reaver, it's vulnerable looking underbelly specifically and nodded "Uh, yeah, that'll probably do it"

Paduk nodded as he hefted the ammo box up before he used every bit of upper body strength he had and threw the several pound crate through the air. Peter had grabbed his Lancer and aimed for the bundle of rounds with his finger on the trigger and waited for the crate to get close enough. He'd have to be quick or all he'll end up doing is startling the thing. After several tense seconds, Peter saw the box falling near the Reaver's side and fired.

The next thing he knew, a small explosion went off near the Reaver's side and it's side and the Grub that was closets to the explosion were shredded with bullets and pieces of the ammo crate. The Grub slumped forward on the controls that seemed to be what fires the rocket. The result was a single projectile firing from the Reaver as it turned towards the other out of reflex. The missile flew through the air and covered the distance between the two in a second, after that, Kilo was met with the pained scream of the Reaver as most of its rear half was blown off along with the Grub that rode in the back.

"Whoo, nice shot baby!" Cole laughed as he shot at the wounded Reaver before his gun clicked, he had run out of ammo "Aw come on!"

The large squid beast collapsed to the ground with a pained screech and the Grub piloting it was thrown off and landed in a pile of sandbags close to Baird's position. The blonde officer didn't hesitate to put several bullets in the downed Grub while Sofia and Bobbi shot the downed Reaver in the face until it's upper head was torn apart by the bullets and collapsed with a huff, before self-detonating in a shower of gore and some mysterious ink like substance.

That left only one wounded Reaver left that was tumbling around, unable to lift off apparently while it's controller tried to regain control. It was then that Peter decided now was the best time to use his new cleaver.

' _Hmm, I wonder if all those slasher villains felt this much excitement at using their new murderous blade for the first time'_ Peter thought as he rushed towards the Revaer and swung his blade into one of its legs, completely severing the limb.

The Reaver roared in pain as this was its last good limb for its wounded side and fell to the ground with a screech that was silenced as Peter jammed the heavy blade into its head while Paduk tore off the pilot and slammed him into the ground before stomping on its head with a yell. The result was a loud sickening crack as the Grub's head was crushed under the weight and strength of Paduk's armored boot.

The Reaver, much to Peter's relief, didn't explode like they normally would, maybe it was out of ordinance inside to cause it to explode or maybe his luck was starting to turn around.

' _Either that, what's coming will be so bad that the universe is giving me this small mercy' Peter_ thought as he suddenly felt a bullet graze past his helmet in a small shower of sparks, causing him to yelp and drop to the ground. It seemed the Grubs from the other end of the bridge had regrouped and started to push forward now that the turret was destroyed.

"We need to get off the damn bridge!" Baird yelled as he fired of single shots towards The Grubs along with Paduk and Cole.

Peter reached for the his dropped cleaver before several bullets tore up the ground near his hand, causing him to yank it back or risk having it shot off. Peter made a sound of annoyance as he reached for it again before he was suddenly dragged back by Bobbi.

"Leave it, you can always get another one!" she shouted as several bullets landed in the spot that Peter was just seconds ago.

"Awww…" Peter whined as he looked around for something to use before he saw a Hammerbrust in the grip of a dead Grub by him. Peter reached down and pried the Locust's fingers and hand of the grip before he checked the gun's clip.

' _Hmm half a clip, should be good if I choose my targets right'_ Peter thought as he slapped the magazine back in and aimed for the closest Drone's head and fired off a single shot.

A moment later, the round tore through the Grub's forehead, bits of bone and blood flying everywhere as it stumbled back before collapsing with a heavy thud on another dead Drone's body. Peter then turned his sights to another Drone and was about to do it in before Sofia emerged from her cover and rushed the distracted Drone before she hopped on a small pile of sandbags towards the Drone jammed her Lancer's bayonet right into it's jugular with a combination of gravity and her own strength.

"Damn…" Peter said as he watched the cadet tumble to the ground and roll into cover in one almost fluid move "How's she still a cadet again?"

"Didn't have a chance to finish her training Private" Bobbi said as she fired off her last round into the last remaining Drone on the bridge's head "You can ogle over her later, let's get that damn beacon"

"Aww, jealous?" Peter snickered.

"Of what?" Bobbi asked as she gestured for the squad to advance towards the Academy entrance that was still under a now much smaller force of Grubs led by one of the red armored Drones.

"That you're no longer the only attractive bad ass Onyx Guard around me" Peter said as he followed Bobbi towards the end of the bride and took cover behind a destroyed Packhorse.

Bobbi's reply was a scoff "Please, how vain do you think I am?"

"A lot since you never seem to like me being next to her" Peter said as he ducked under a stray shot from one of the turrets that were manned by the Grubs.

"That's because I don't need you, a fully trained Guardsman, getting killed babysitting some damn rookie, no scratch that, some damn recruit that's not even graduated to full Onyx yet" Bobbi said as she peeked over her cover to see that there was only a dozen Grubs in total still alive.

"I still think your jealous" Peter said as he glanced through the shot-out windows of the Packhorse and aimed his captured Hammerburst towards the Drone manning one of the turrets.

The Grub kept moving as it aimed the turret and fired off burst towards both human's locations. Peter had to resist the urge to duck as one of the turrets rounds shot out a small bit of the bloodstained glass near his helmet before he squeezed the trigger and fired off the last several bullets in the Locust Rifle.

He was met with the sight of the Grub's head snapping back as the bullets tore through it's skull and caused it to slump to the ground.

"Turret's out, flank them!" Baird signaled Peter and Bobbi as Kilo drew the fire of the last remaining Turret and most of the Grub's still standing.

Peter and Bobbi nodded das they rushed towards the lone turret and saw that the lone red armored Grub was also rushing towards it only to stop and hiss at them and raise it's strange bow like weapon.

"Uh-oh" Peter said as he saw the weapon charge up before it shot a small arrow like projectile towards him and Bobbi.

The small explosive landed before them and not a second sooner ignited in a small ball of fire, forcing the humans to take cover while the red armored Grub reached the turret. It took control and turned the gun emplacement towards Peter and Bobbi's location and was just about to fire before it was suddenly tackled to the ground by Peter.

"Surprise!" he said as he struggled to keep the Drone pinned before Bobbi slammed her foot down on it's head. The Grub grunted as it's helmet collided with thee ground again and again as Bobbi continued to stomp on it until finally, the helmet cracked and exposed the bloodied face of a very unhappy Drone.

"Yeah, well fuck you to asshole" the Bobbi hissed out darkly before slamming her foot into it's face again, this time causing as loud wet cracking sound to erupt from it's head before it went limp, much to Peter's relief as he climbed off it and manned the turret and aimed it towards the last squad of Grubs and the turret and smirked as he pulled the trigger.

"Sorry boys, but class is about to start and we're already behind as it is…"

Seconds of silence passed before Peter glanced at the turret "Isn't bullets supposed to shoot out of this thing?"

Bobbi glanced down and saw that one of the rounds in the belt had jammed up "Well shit…"

Peter couldn't help but sigh as he let go of the controls "Looks like we'll be taking care of them the hard way…"

He looked around for a gun to use or maybe some spare ammo for his Lancer before he saw the bow like weapon the Drone used. Peter hummed as he reached down and checked it over, trying to see how the thing might work before he aimed it towards the remaining turret and began to charge the thing.

"You sure you know how to use that?" Bobbi asked with a frown as she saw the Grub manning the turret notice them and began to turn the heavy weapon towards them.

"Eh, if Cole can use it to kill a Boomer, I think I can use one to kill a simple Grub on a turret only seventy feet from us" Peter said as he released the trigger and watched the small little explosive arrowhead fly though the air and embed itself in the turret the Drone was about to fire with "Heh, boom"

The turret and grub were suddenly engulfed in a powerful explosion that was enhanced by the amount of ammo in the gun and it's belt, complete shredding the emplacement apart along with the Grub and forcing the others to scatter in surprise, giving Kilo the chance to move up. Within minutes, the Locust were dealt with and Kilo found itself bloodied, tired and victorious before the blood-stained doors to the academy.

"Well, that went better than I thought" Baird said as he looked up at the Academy's doors before glancing at Bobbi, Sofia and Peter "so anyone know how to get to Elliot's lab from here?"

"I do… it'll likely be locked down, but I have the code" Sofia said as she rubbed some Locust blood off her chest.

"Why do you have the code to his lab?" Bobbi asked with a frown.

"I used to test some weapons for Professor Elliot, he had a bit of a crush on me…" Sofia trailed off with a cough.

Everyone stared at Sofia for a moment before Bobbi sighed in annoyance "Cadet, I hope that you got his far because of your skills, not because you made him feel good every time you got on your knees for him"

Sofia glared at the veteran Guardswoman before she reigned in any anger she was filling and nodded "I didn't ask or get special treatment from him… ma'am"

"Good" Bobbi said as she turned on her heel and began to make her way up the steps with Cole and Baird behind her. They made sure to mind their footing, the steps were lined with the bloodied bodies of the school's defenders and that of its invaders.

Sofia stared at the fallen forms of the Onyx Guard Cadets in particular that lined the long since overrun defenses around the entrance to the Academy. She could tell they were cadet by how much better the condition their armor was compared to a veteran like Corporal Morse's or Private Parker's. Even marred with blood of both Locust and human it still looked to be in pristine condition.

She had to tear her eyes away from the bodies in fear that she may recognize one of them, a lot of her friends were still here when Halvo Bay came under siege.

"You okay Hendrick?" Peter asked as he gave the young woman on a pat on the shoulder.

Sofia nodded as she tried to settle her nerves "I don't know what happened here exactly… but I know my fellow Cadets fought to the end to keep this place safe"

"There's no shame in losing a fight" Paduk said as he glanced at the two before tapping on the altered color portion of his armor "Trust me, I know"

"Wow Paduk, that has to be the nicest thing you've said since I've met you" Peter said with surprise.

"It's the blood loss, it makes me say things that I don't mean" the former UIR soldier said with a dismissive wave before he followed after the rest into the academy.

Peter and Sofia watched him go for a moment before the cadet spoke with some amusement "I think he's growing on us"

"Better not tell him that, he has his pride after all" Peter snickered as they followed the rest of Kilo into the overrun school, all the while an armored Skirmisher silently followed after them.

…

* * *

And done.

Next chapter, Kilo locates the beacon and contends with their hunter.


End file.
